A method is provided including running an application on a computer having a display, wherein the application requires external network access. The method further includes determining a number of people gathered around the computer, and automatically changing the network priority of the application as a function of the number of people determined to be gathered around the computer. The number of people gathered around the computer is preferably determined using a facial recognition module to analyze an image captured by a camera of the computer or using a speech recognition module to analyze sound captured by a microphone of the computer.