diff --git a/routes/_components/status/Status.html b/routes/_components/status/Status.html
index af79266..8bfaba6 100644
--- a/routes/_components/status/Status.html
+++ b/routes/_components/status/Status.html
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@
                    :originalStatus :uuid :spoilerShown
                    on:recalculateHeight />
   {{/if}}
-  {{#if !spoilerText || spoilerShown}}
+  {{#if showContent || contentPreloaded}}
     <StatusContent :isStatusInOwnThread :isStatusInNotification
-                   :originalStatus :uuid />
+                   :originalStatus :uuid shown="{{showContent}}"/>
   {{/if}}
   {{#if originalStatus.media_attachments && originalStatus.media_attachments.length}}
     <StatusMediaAttachments :originalStatus :uuid
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@
   import { registerClickDelegate, unregisterClickDelegate } from '../../_utils/delegate'
   import { classname } from '../../_utils/classname'
   import { checkDomAncestors } from '../../_utils/checkDomAncestors'
+  import { scheduleIdleTask } from '../../_utils/scheduleIdleTask'
 
   const INPUT_TAGS = new Set(['a', 'button', 'input', 'textarea'])
   const isUserInputElement = node => INPUT_TAGS.has(node.localName)
@@ -127,6 +128,13 @@
         // the whole <article> is clickable in this case
         registerClickDelegate(delegateKey, (e) => this.onClickOrKeydown(e))
       }
+      if (!this.get('showContent')) {
+        scheduleIdleTask(() => {
+          // Perf optimization: lazily load the StatusContent when the user is idle so that
+          // it's fast when they click the "show more" button
+          this.set({contentPreloaded: true})
+        })
+      }
     },
     ondestroy() {
       let delegateKey = this.get('delegateKey')
@@ -214,7 +222,8 @@
           timelineType !== 'search' && 'status-in-timeline',
           isStatusInOwnThread && 'status-in-own-thread'
         )
-      }
+      },
+      showContent: (spoilerText, spoilerShown) => !spoilerText || spoilerShown
     }
   }
 </script>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/routes/_components/status/StatusContent.html b/routes/_components/status/StatusContent.html
index 34a3140..15c12b1 100644
--- a/routes/_components/status/StatusContent.html
+++ b/routes/_components/status/StatusContent.html
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-<div
-  class="status-content {{isStatusInOwnThread ? 'status-in-own-thread' : ''}} {{isStatusInNotification ? 'status-in-notification' : ''}}"
-  ref:node
->
+<div class="{{computedClass}}" ref:node>
     {{{massagedContent}}}
 </div>
 <style>
@@ -12,6 +9,7 @@
     overflow: hidden;
     white-space: pre-wrap;
     font-size: 0.9em;
+    display: none;
   }
 
   .status-content.status-in-own-thread {
@@ -19,6 +17,10 @@
     margin: 20px 10px 20px 5px;
   }
 
+  .status-content.shown {
+    display: block;
+  }
+
   :global(.status-content .status-emoji) {
     width: 20px;
     height: 20px;
@@ -59,6 +61,7 @@
   import { replaceAll } from '../../_utils/strings'
   import { mark, stop } from '../../_utils/marks'
   import { store } from '../../_store/store'
+  import { classname } from '../../_utils/classname'
 
   export default {
     oncreate() {
@@ -66,6 +69,14 @@
     },
     store: () => store,
     computed: {
+      computedClass: (isStatusInOwnThread, isStatusInNotification, shown) => {
+        return classname(
+          'status-content',
+          isStatusInOwnThread && 'status-in-own-thread',
+          isStatusInNotification && 'status-in-notification',
+          shown && 'shown'
+        )
+      },
       massagedContent: (originalStatus, $autoplayGifs) => {
         let content = originalStatus.content
         // emojify
diff --git a/tests/spec/110-compose-content-warnings.js b/tests/spec/110-compose-content-warnings.js
index 0260c5b..79048e6 100644
--- a/tests/spec/110-compose-content-warnings.js
+++ b/tests/spec/110-compose-content-warnings.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ test('content warnings are posted', async t => {
     .click(getNthShowOrHideButton(0))
     .expect(getNthStatus(0).find('.status-content').innerText).contains('hello this is a toot')
     .click(getNthShowOrHideButton(0))
-    .expect(getNthStatus(0).find('.status-content').exists).notOk()
+    .expect(getNthStatus(0).innerText).notContains('hello this is a toot')
 })
 
 test('content warnings are not posted if removed', async t => {
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ test('content warnings are not posted if removed', async t => {
     .click(contentWarningButton)
     .expect(composeContentWarning.exists).notOk()
     .click(composeButton)
-    .expect(getNthStatus(0).find('.status-spoiler').exists).notOk({timeout: 30000})
+    .expect(getNthStatus(0).innerText).contains('hi this is another toot', {timeout: 30000})
+    .expect(getNthStatus(0).innerText).notContains('content warning!')
     .expect(getNthStatus(0).find('.status-content').innerText).contains('hi this is another toot')
 })