Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to collaborative computing and provide a method, system and computer program product for deriving and communicating attention spans in a collaborative computing environment. In an embodiment of the invention, an attention span management method can be provided for a collaborative computing environment. The method can include monitoring computer activity for a collaborator to a collaboration, computing an attention span based upon the monitored computing activity, and generating an alert in the collaboration if the attention span crosses a threshold boundary indicating an unacceptable level of distraction for the collaboration.