We are already essentially in election season, which means we will soon face more manipulative attacks—attacks that are often invisible to ordinary people, the "victims" of these operations. The main battle will revolve around capturing public attention and gaining trust by any means possible.

For us communication professionals, "public/audience attention" is more than just words. Professionals consider it the "new currency."

Why? Because public attention is not unlimited, and the enormous volume of current information flow prevents the concentration of that attention. This is precisely why even very important news stories survive in the information space for one to three days at most.

I want to draw attention to another professional concept: "digital/media detox." This is when people deliberately limit their information intake by refusing to watch television or specific channels, or by blocking social media platforms or posts. A variation of this is "escapism," when people simply choose not to follow the news, protecting themselves from negative information.

Now, amid the manipulative "storms" threatening us—when it will be harder for people to distinguish truth from falsehood—these two concepts are becoming increasingly relevant.

I'd like to make two observations here: one for the "organizers of the storms," so to speak, and another for consumers—ordinary people.

At first glance, it seems that if a party controls numerous media resources—news outlets, disinformation factories, etc.—it can definitely lead in capturing public attention. This might have been true about ten years ago, but this approach is now debatable. Today we encounter our second concept: digital or media detox, when people simply block content on a specific topic regardless of how many types of media and platforms deliver it. They change the channel, report posts, and so on. In other words, controlling many media resources doesn't mean reaching many people; it now more often means reaching the same people. And if the promises of political forces are detached from reality and don't address people's primary needs, this represents a meaningless waste of resources. Viable content is content that meets people's real needs—regardless of its distribution method or even its scale.

My other observation concerns consumers—the public:

The pre-election manipulative storm involves spreading false agendas. It works as follows: media controlled by a particular political force begin periodically and aggressively spreading talking points, attempting to present them as public demands. A vivid example is the situation created around the Catholicos: the ruling force considers this a primary public agenda, whereas surveys conducted during the same period by the American International Republican Institute (IRI) reveal completely different priorities.

So how can we avoid these multi-layered manipulations and assess the situation soberly? During this election period, I suggest citizens do the following simple exercise: decide for yourself what your three priority issues are, then analyze which force also considers them priorities—and not only priorities, but who can actually solve them without resorting to lies.

For example, as an ordinary citizen (not as a professional), my three priority issues are:

a) Security

b) Inflation

c) Public safety

This simple exercise will, I hope, help you gain some clarity and save your nerves.

Zoya Barseghyan is a public relations and communications specialist.

These views are his own.