A system and method for controlling how images are displayed on a display screen of a portable computing device changes the orientation of the images on the display screen when the orientation of the portable computing device changes. If the orientation of the portable computing device is changing only infrequently, the orientation of the images on the display screen may be rapidly changed when the orientation of the portable computing device changes. If the orientation of the portable computing device is changing relatively frequently, the orientation of the images may not switch until after a delay period has expired after each change in orientation of the portable computing device occurs.