diff --git a/debug_log.html b/debug_log.html
index 0b2869fd612a..fb5d01cfb622 100644
--- a/debug_log.html
+++ b/debug_log.html
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
       <h1> {{ title }} </h1>
       <p> {{ debugLogExplanation }}</p>
     </div>
-    <textarea spellcheck='false' rows='5'></textarea>
+    <textarea class='textarea' spellcheck='false' rows='5'></textarea>
     <div class='buttons'>
       <button class='grey submit'>{{ submit }}</button>
     </div>
diff --git a/js/views/debug_log_view.js b/js/views/debug_log_view.js
index 80defbb6e1b6..c4b737679ad7 100644
--- a/js/views/debug_log_view.js
+++ b/js/views/debug_log_view.js
@@ -8,6 +8,22 @@
 (function () {
   window.Whisper = window.Whisper || {};
 
+  // This enum-like object describes the load state of `DebugLogView`. It's designed to be
+  //   unidirectional; `NotStarted` → `Started` → `LogsFetchedButNotInTextarea`, etc.
+  const LoadState = {
+    NotStarted: 0,
+    Started: 1,
+    LogsFetchedButNotInTextarea: 2,
+    PuttingLogsInTextarea: 3,
+    LogsInTextarea: 4,
+  };
+
+  Whisper.LoadingFullLogsToast = Whisper.ToastView.extend({
+    render_attributes() {
+      return { toastMessage: i18n('loading') };
+    },
+  });
+
   Whisper.LinkedCopiedToast = Whisper.ToastView.extend({
     render_attributes() {
       return { toastMessage: i18n('debugLogLinkCopied') };
@@ -36,19 +52,40 @@
       Whisper.ToastView.show(Whisper.LinkedCopiedToast, document.body);
     },
   });
+
+  /**
+   * The bulk of the logic in this view involves grabbing the logs from disk and putting
+   * them in a `<textarea>`. The first part isn't instant but is reasonably fast; setting
+   * the textarea's `value` takes a long time.
+   *
+   * After loading the logs into memory, we only put a small number of lines into the
+   * textarea. If the user clicks or scrolls the textarea, we pull the full logs, which
+   * can cause the system to lock up for a bit.
+   *
+   * Ideally, we'd only show a sampling of the logs and allow the user to download and
+   * edit them in their own editor. This is mostly a stopgap solution.
+   */
   Whisper.DebugLogView = Whisper.View.extend({
     templateName: 'debug-log',
     className: 'debug-log modal',
     initialize() {
       this.render();
-      this.$('textarea').val(i18n('loading'));
 
-      // eslint-disable-next-line more/no-then
-      window.log.fetch().then(text => {
-        this.$('textarea').val(text);
-      });
+      this.textarea = this.$('.textarea').get(0);
+      if (!this.textarea) {
+        throw new Error('textarea not found');
+      }
+      this.textarea.setAttribute('readonly', '');
+
+      this.loadState = LoadState.NotStarted;
+      this.putFullLogsInTextareaPlease = false;
+
+      this.fetchLogs();
     },
     events: {
+      'click .textarea': 'putFullLogsInTextarea',
+      'scroll .textarea': 'putFullLogsInTextarea',
+      'wheel .textarea': 'putFullLogsInTextarea',
       'click .submit': 'submit',
       'click .close': 'close',
     },
@@ -59,17 +96,86 @@
       close: i18n('gotIt'),
       debugLogExplanation: i18n('debugLogExplanation'),
     },
+    async fetchLogs() {
+      if (this.loadState !== LoadState.NotStarted) {
+        return;
+      }
+
+      this.loadState = LoadState.Started;
+      this.textarea.value = i18n('loading');
+      this.$('.submit').attr('disabled', 'disabled');
+
+      this.logText = await window.log.fetch();
+      this.loadState = LoadState.LogsFetchedButNotInTextarea;
+
+      // This number is somewhat arbitrary; we want to show enough that it's clear that
+      //   we need to scroll, but not so many that things get slow.
+      const linesToShow = Math.ceil(Math.min(window.innerHeight, 2000) / 5);
+      this.textarea.value = this.logText
+        .split(/\n/g)
+        .slice(0, linesToShow)
+        .concat(['', i18n('loading')])
+        .join('\n');
+
+      this.$('.submit').removeAttr('disabled');
+
+      if (this.putFullLogsInTextareaPlease) {
+        this.putFullLogsInTextarea();
+      }
+    },
+    putFullLogsInTextarea() {
+      switch (this.loadState) {
+        case LoadState.NotStarted:
+        case LoadState.Started:
+          this.putFullLogsInTextareaPlease = true;
+          break;
+        case LoadState.LogsInTextarea:
+        case LoadState.PuttingLogsInTextarea:
+          break;
+        case LoadState.LogsFetchedButNotInTextarea:
+          if (!this.logText) {
+            throw new Error('Expected log text to be present');
+          }
+          this.loadState = LoadState.PuttingLogsInTextarea;
+          Whisper.ToastView.show(Whisper.LoadingFullLogsToast, document.body);
+          setTimeout(() => {
+            this.textarea.value = this.logText;
+            this.textarea.removeAttribute('readonly');
+            this.loadState = LoadState.LogsInTextarea;
+          }, 0);
+          break;
+        default:
+          // When we can, we should make this throw a `missingCaseError`.
+          break;
+      }
+    },
     close() {
       window.closeDebugLog();
     },
     async submit(e) {
       e.preventDefault();
-      const text = this.$('textarea').val();
+
+      let text;
+      switch (this.loadState) {
+        case LoadState.NotStarted:
+        case LoadState.Started:
+          return;
+        case LoadState.LogsFetchedButNotInTextarea:
+          text = this.logText;
+          break;
+        case LoadState.LogsInTextarea:
+          text = this.textarea.value;
+          break;
+        default:
+          // When we can, we should make this throw a `missingCaseError`.
+          return;
+      }
+
       if (text.length === 0) {
         return;
       }
 
-      this.$('.buttons, textarea').remove();
+      this.$('.buttons, .textarea').remove();
       this.$('.result').addClass('loading');
 
       try {
diff --git a/ts/util/lint/exceptions.json b/ts/util/lint/exceptions.json
index 091f07cf6504..b3f77cd459d9 100644
--- a/ts/util/lint/exceptions.json
+++ b/ts/util/lint/exceptions.json
@@ -328,35 +328,35 @@
   {
     "rule": "jQuery-$(",
     "path": "js/views/debug_log_view.js",
-    "line": "      this.$('textarea').val(i18n('loading'));",
-    "lineNumber": 44,
+    "line": "      this.textarea = this.$('.textarea').get(0);",
+    "lineNumber": 74,
     "reasonCategory": "usageTrusted",
-    "updated": "2020-05-01T17:11:39.527Z",
-    "reasonDetail": "Protected from arbitrary input"
+    "updated": "2021-01-13T23:20:15.717Z",
+    "reasonDetail": "Needed to get a reference to a textarea."
   },
   {
     "rule": "jQuery-$(",
     "path": "js/views/debug_log_view.js",
-    "line": "        this.$('textarea').val(text);",
-    "lineNumber": 48,
+    "line": "      this.$('.submit').attr('disabled', 'disabled');",
+    "lineNumber": 106,
     "reasonCategory": "usageTrusted",
-    "updated": "2020-05-01T17:11:39.527Z",
-    "reasonDetail": "Protected from arbitrary input"
+    "updated": "2021-01-13T23:20:15.717Z",
+    "reasonDetail": "Only changes attributes; doesn't write other data to the DOM. Is also trusted input."
   },
   {
     "rule": "jQuery-$(",
     "path": "js/views/debug_log_view.js",
-    "line": "      const text = this.$('textarea').val();",
-    "lineNumber": 67,
+    "line": "      this.$('.submit').removeAttr('disabled');",
+    "lineNumber": 120,
     "reasonCategory": "usageTrusted",
-    "updated": "2020-05-01T17:11:39.527Z",
-    "reasonDetail": "Protected from arbitrary input"
+    "updated": "2021-01-13T23:20:15.717Z",
+    "reasonDetail": "Only changes attributes; doesn't write other data to the DOM. Is also trusted input."
   },
   {
     "rule": "jQuery-$(",
     "path": "js/views/debug_log_view.js",
-    "line": "      this.$('.buttons, textarea').remove();",
-    "lineNumber": 72,
+    "line": "      this.$('.buttons, .textarea').remove();",
+    "lineNumber": 178,
     "reasonCategory": "usageTrusted",
     "updated": "2020-05-01T17:11:39.527Z",
     "reasonDetail": "Protected from arbitrary input"
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@
     "rule": "jQuery-$(",
     "path": "js/views/debug_log_view.js",
     "line": "      this.$('.result').addClass('loading');",
-    "lineNumber": 73,
+    "lineNumber": 179,
     "reasonCategory": "usageTrusted",
     "updated": "2020-09-11T17:24:56.124Z",
     "reasonDetail": "Static selector argument"
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@
     "rule": "jQuery-$(",
     "path": "js/views/debug_log_view.js",
     "line": "          el: this.$('.result'),",
-    "lineNumber": 82,
+    "lineNumber": 188,
     "reasonCategory": "usageTrusted",
     "updated": "2020-05-01T17:11:39.527Z",
     "reasonDetail": "Protected from arbitrary input"
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@
     "rule": "jQuery-$(",
     "path": "js/views/debug_log_view.js",
     "line": "        this.$('.loading').removeClass('loading');",
-    "lineNumber": 84,
+    "lineNumber": 190,
     "reasonCategory": "usageTrusted",
     "updated": "2020-05-01T17:11:39.527Z",
     "reasonDetail": "Protected from arbitrary input"
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@
     "rule": "jQuery-$(",
     "path": "js/views/debug_log_view.js",
     "line": "        this.$('.link').focus().select();",
-    "lineNumber": 86,
+    "lineNumber": 192,
     "reasonCategory": "usageTrusted",
     "updated": "2020-11-18T03:39:29.033Z",
     "reasonDetail": "Protected from arbitrary input"
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@
     "rule": "jQuery-$(",
     "path": "js/views/debug_log_view.js",
     "line": "        this.$('.loading').removeClass('loading');",
-    "lineNumber": 92,
+    "lineNumber": 198,
     "reasonCategory": "usageTrusted",
     "updated": "2020-11-18T03:39:29.033Z",
     "reasonDetail": "Protected from arbitrary input"
@@ -410,7 +410,7 @@
     "rule": "jQuery-$(",
     "path": "js/views/debug_log_view.js",
     "line": "        this.$('.result').text(i18n('debugLogError'));",
-    "lineNumber": 93,
+    "lineNumber": 199,
     "reasonCategory": "usageTrusted",
     "updated": "2020-11-18T03:39:29.033Z",
     "reasonDetail": "Protected from arbitrary input"
@@ -15223,4 +15223,4 @@
     "updated": "2021-01-08T15:46:32.143Z",
     "reasonDetail": "Doesn't manipulate the DOM. This is just a function."
   }
-]
+]
\ No newline at end of file