First Person to Fall Asleep at the Sleepover

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Part of a series on When You're at a Sleepover. [View Related Entries]

About

First Person To Fall Asleep At The Sleepover refers to a cliché in memes that emphasize the childhood belief that it's not good or cool to be the first person asleep at a sleepover because of what one's friends might do to them once they're unconscious. The idea was referenced in internet humor on Twitter as early as 2010, but became more notable in 2022 following memes on Instagram and TikTok that captioned 3D-modeled medical footage and surgeries with the POV catchphrase. Additionally, the trend is similar to When You're at a Sleepover memes.

Origin

Traces of the cliché can be seen on Twitter^[1] as early as 2010, though the exact first is unknown. Most early examples abide by the idea that falling asleep first is not cool or cringe. However, the first known example to receive viral engagement was posted by the Instagram^[2] page its5hpride_ on September 26th, 2017, where over the course of five years, it received roughly 2,100 likes (shown below).

However, likely precursors are the When You're At A Sleepover memes that caption photographs of humans or animals underneath a variety of objects with some variation of "When you’re at a sleepover and your friend doesn’t give you a blanket." The first known meme of this type was posted on August 27th, 2014, by Twitter user lilnaebossin.^[3] Over the course of four years, it received roughly 7,800 retweets and 4,200 likes (shown below).

Spread

On February 17th, 2019, Twitter^[4] user blackdegenerate quote retweeted a criminal's mugshot who had multiple face tattoos, stating, "when u fall asleep at the sleepover," earning roughly 7,400 likes in three years (shown below).

In 2021, the cliché became more notable on TikTok following videos from creators who joked about sexual activities taking place unknowingly on behalf of the first, straight male friend to fall asleep. On September 6th, 2019, TikToker^[5] jalenrevis posted a video that earned roughly 2 million plays and 543,600 likes in seven months (shown below, left). On October 25th, TikToker^[6] itstoreezy posted a similar video, earning roughly 12,300 plays and over 600 likes in six months (shown below, right).

On March 13th, 2022, TikToker^[7] not_cjdailydose continued the sexual assault theme with a video of his that used the Something In My Ass TikTok sound, earning roughly 1.3 million plays and 203,800 likes in one month (shown below, left). However, TikTokers started moving away from the aforementioned, sexual assault theme going into the rest of March. On April 4th, 2022, TikToker^[8] he_is_coming_78 posted a video that captioned a 3D-modeled surgery video with the catchphrase, earning roughly 73,800 plays and 10,300 likes in one week (shown below, right).

The medical symbolism trend picked up in memes going into April 2022. For instance, also on April 4th, Twitter^[9] user Manthatdontknow captioned a medical image with, "POV: you’re the first one to fall asleep at the sleepover," earning over 560 likes in one week (shown below, left). On April 10th, Instagram^[10] user trashcanpaul posted a video meme that earned roughly 1.6 million views and 142,100 likes in one day (shown below, right).