Systems and methods for a cognitive display control are disclosed. A method includes: obtaining, by a computer device, context information of current content being displayed on a display; generating, by the computer device, a respective attention score for each one of plural users for the current content; receiving, by the computer device, input to change from the current content to new content; determining, by the computer device and based on the receiving, that the attention score of at least one of the plural users exceeds a threshold value; and controlling the display, by the computer device and based on the determining, to display an alert and a prompt to confirm or reject changing to the new content.