Collaborative distraction mitigation

A computer program product for mitigating distractions that are provided by a computer system, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage device having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable and executable by a computer to perform a method comprising:

• identifying a task T that has a completion deadline, wherein the task T is performed on the computer system;
• identifying one or more activities At that are required to complete the task T;
• identifying a dedicated focus of attention time Ft that is required of a user to perform the one or more activities At in order to meet the completion deadline;
• monitoring activities of the user to determine a focus of attention time Fi for each activity Ai performed by the user, wherein the activities include both the one or more activities At that are required to complete the task T and distraction activities that are unrelated to the task T;
• accumulating the focus of attention time Fi for activities into a bucket for Ft and a bucket not for Ft, wherein the focus of attention time Fi for activities related to the task T are placed in the bucket for Ft, and wherein the focus of attention time Fi for the distraction activities that are unrelated to the task T are placed in the bucket not for Ft;
• comparing the bucket for Ft to the bucket not for Ft in order to determine a distraction assessment of one or more distractions from performing the task T;
• and
• in response to determining the distraction assessment meets a distraction criteria, altering a functionality of the computer system by disabling one or more functions of the computer system when performing the task T.

A computer system comprising one or more processors, one or more computer readable memories, and one or more computer readable storage mediums, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, the stored program instructions comprising:

• program instructions to identify a task T that has a completion deadline, wherein the task T is performed on the computer system;
• program instructions to identify one or more activities At that are required to complete the task T;
• program instructions to identify a dedicated focus of attention time Ft that is required of a user to perform the one or more activities At in order to meet the completion deadline;
• program instructions to monitor activities of the user to determine a focus of attention time Fi for each activity Ai performed by the user, wherein the activities include both the one or more activities At that are required to complete the task T and distraction activities that are unrelated to the task T;
• program instructions to accumulate the focus of attention time Fi for activities into a bucket for Ft and a bucket not for Ft, wherein the focus of attention time Fi for activities related to the task T are placed in the bucket for Ft, and wherein the focus of attention time Fi for the distraction activities that are unrelated to the task T are placed in the bucket not for Ft;
• program instructions to compare the bucket for Ft to the bucket not for Ft in order to determine a distraction assessment of one or more distractions from performing the task T;
• and
• program instructions to, in response to determining the distraction assessment meets a distraction criteria, alter a functionality of the computer system by disabling one or more functions of the computer system when performing the task T.