Over the past five years, US workers have increased their use of smiley face emoji in emails and other correspondence by 2000 percent – from an average of six per day in 2018 to almost 250 today as of December 2024.
“Undoubtedly it’s becasuse we were in a pandemic and people were doing whatever they could to find some happiness, says Prof Lillian Ipsing of the Cromwell Institute, which tracks and studies nearly 10,000 corporate emoji.
Now, she says, the situation has gotten out of hand – and that if current trends continue US businesses will run out of smiley face emojis by 2029. That’s why over 2000 of them have installed the “Smiley Shock” software on all company devices.
The premise is simple: A limit on smiley face use per employee is established – say, 10 per day – and when en employee exceeds that limit by typing number 11, their computer or phone keyboard emits a mild electric shock. The voltage is increased with each subsequent smiley face.
“For the most part people are stopping when they hit ten,” says Marilyn Alaman, HR Director at Cleveland’s Fillson Trust, which installed Smiley Block in July. “But you still have those diehards who are willing to endure a few volts just to use one or two more.”
The cost of installing Smiley Block is $250 per device – but, says Ipsing, most companies are finding it well worth the price.
“The only other remedy for anyone using 20 or more smiley faces a day,” she says, “is prolonged and extensive therapy, which will obviously cost a company many times more.”
