Within a communication device having a plurality of displays, a method of controlling the displays can include, responsive to receiving an event from an application within a display manager, determining whether a single event or multiple events are pending (430). If a single event is pending, the method can include instructing the application to write data corresponding to the received event to a primary display of the communication device (435). The display manager can write data corresponding to the received event to a secondary display (445). If multiple events are pending, the method can include preventing the application from writing data to the primary display (470). The display manager can write data corresponding to the multiple events to the primary display and the secondary display without involvement of the application (475). The display manager further can launch a specific application in response to an event (500).