Meme of Mark Zuckerberg selfie with staring crowd captioned 'bugs when you lift up a rock'

Bugs When You Lift Up A Rock

2021catchphrasedeclining

Published November 2, 2026

Bugs When You Lift Up A Rock is a catchphrase paired with image macros where groups of people or characters look motionless, as if a rock has just been flipped off them. The joke first surfaced on Reddit in May 2021 with a Limmy image, then Twitter user Fred_Delicious popularized the exact phrasing a year later by captioning a Mark Zuckerberg group selfie. By late 2022, Instagram accounts were swapping the macro for cats, aesthetic bodybuilders and a 1904 Hotel Astor dinner photo.

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Overview

Posts in this format pair the caption with a photo where several subjects appear stiff, startled or stuck in an awkward pose, mimicking insects caught by sudden daylight1. Mark Zuckerberg's unsmiling tech-executive selfie worked as the breakthrough image because the men look fluorescent-lit and expressionless, which fit the bug comparison with no edits needed3.

Variations keep the caption and swap the photo. Common swaps include aesthetic bodybuilders posing in gym mirrors5, clusters of cats staring at a camera4, and vintage portraits where everyone sits rigidly for a long exposure9. The humor leans on physical pattern recognition: a viewer notices the stillness and symmetry first, then the caption reframes the figures as pests scurrying from the light.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit (first version) / Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Fred_Delicious; /u/thedirtdirt
Date
2021

Redditor /u/thedirtdirt posted the earliest known version to r/memes on May 21, 2021, pairing a shot of Limmy waking up with the caption 'Me: *turns over big rock* / The bugs underneath it:'2. The post collected roughly 131,000 upvotes over the following year and a half3.

Twitter user @Fred_Delicious rephrased the joke on May 9, 2022, tweeting 'bugs when you lift up a rock' over Mark Zuckerberg's group selfie with other Meta executives, none of them smiling1. That tweet earned around 412,000 likes in seven months and set the template every imitator copied afterward1.

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How It Spread

Instagram accounts began reposting the Fred_Delicious tweet almost immediately. @humor shared the screenshot on May 10, 2022, picking up about 40,500 likes10. A day later, @gourmet.cat.memes kept the tweet shell but replaced the Zuckerberg selfie with a cluster of cats, earning roughly 6,900 likes4. @yungstarbeam ran the same swap on May 11, 2022, this time with Zyzz and other aesthetic bodybuilders in the macro slot5.

Video edits followed on May 14, 2022, when @dark_iron_gains posted a clip of bodybuilders walking to breakcore music under the catchphrase, hitting about 28,300 likes6. Momentum then quieted for several months.

Activity returned in late November 2022. On November 24, 2022, Twitter user @adamthealright captioned a 1904 Hotel Astor dinner party photo with 'Bugs when you turn over a rock'7. The source image is an archive photograph from that banquet9. He screenshotted the tweet and reposted it to Instagram the next day under @official.agnew, where it earned around 7,400 likes8.

Timeline

2021-05-21

Redditor /u/thedirtdirt posts the earliest known version to r/memes, captioning a Limmy image with the 'big rock' phrasing[2].

2022-05-09

Twitter user @Fred_Delicious tweets 'bugs when you lift up a rock' over Mark Zuckerberg's group selfie, kicking off the viral run[1].

2022-05-10

Instagram account @humor reposts the screenshot, picking up about 40,500 likes[10].

2022-05-11

@gourmet.cat.memes and @yungstarbeam post swaps using cats and aesthetic bodybuilders in place of the Zuckerberg selfie[4][5].

2022-05-14

@dark_iron_gains posts a bodybuilder video edit set to breakcore under the catchphrase, earning around 28,300 likes[6].

2022-11-24

Twitter user @adamthealright captions a 1904 Hotel Astor dinner party photo with 'Bugs when you turn over a rock'[7].

2022-11-25

@adamthealright screenshots his own tweet and reposts it to Instagram as @official.agnew, where it reaches about 7,400 likes[8].

How to Use This Meme

Pair the caption 'bugs when you lift up a rock' (or 'bugs when you turn over a rock') with a photo of a tight group of people, animals or characters who appear frozen, bunched together, or stiffly posed. The common convention is to pick an image with harsh lighting or unusual stillness, since the comparison lands when the subjects already look startled before any edit17. Variations often include bodybuilders, formal group portraits, or any wide shot where a crowd stares back at the camera.

Frequently Asked Questions