Our society has been evolving quicker than ever since automation and optimization processes were implemented. We produce quicker than ever and have become great at making operations the most efficient. Our education system benefits from some of this, but we have stepped into what may be a natural consequence of too much automation. We consume knowledge from all kinds of sources and engage in too many stimuli at once, with ease. What started as technological breakthroughs and freedom of information has now become a sea of surface knowledge that ends up going to waste.

People refrain from getting deeper into topics, from preserving ideas and letting them transform into something better, and are satisfied with simple quick answers, at the ends of their fingers. We became addicted to consuming information and quickly set our minds on volatile knowledge. Our mindset has become the same as the one that drives fast fashion and consequently creates the astonishing problem of trash landfills, as we are focused on consuming for the present need and quickly discard any thought that needs more time investment from us. At schools, learning has become about excelling on exams, not about fomenting and cherishing knowledge. Young minds are becoming a slush of quick facts and hot topics, from where it becomes increasingly more difficult to make emerge truly innovative ideas. Fast learnt. Fast forgotten.

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This year’s theme revolved around shifting the learning paradigm, so Posterheroes proposed to reflect on the limits of current learning models and imagine future ones. Are we mindful or mind full? Learning follows the accelerated pace of technological progress so it is time to change the paradigm in favor of slow and sustainable learning that aims to train conscious individuals in the name of cooperation, respect, and solidarity.

There were 1967 submissions from 101 countries, and 40 selected winners for this edition. This year’s winners are featured in a publication that gathers brief reflections on each poster concept. Check the winning selection here.