Is that because the electronics were more attractive, or because he was still in the 'learn to read' phase and it was work to get through a large book? Crossing the threshold into 'read to learn' skill level is a huge turning point in how a kid looks at books [in my experience].

As an adult, I think it's because electronics are more attractive. As a kid, I gladly slogged through the Silmarillion. Given my choice of verb, I'm not sure that I could do it today. Reading the comments on HN gives me a much quicker and sharper burst of pleasure.

My hats off to you. I didn't try Silmarillion until I was in my 20s, but I was unable to stick with it to the end.

I think it has to be the social part, not the electronics per se. When I was a tween, we had mostly non-networked PCs and games (e.g. Atari, NES). We played on them plenty, to be sure, but I still spent most of my time with friends outdoors. Today it seems like most games have a social aspect to them, and right along with reading/replying to comments on places like HN, it's the feeling of connectedness that is addicting. Electronics is how, not the why. In my opinion :)

We already have a system in place at our house where you earn 30 minute slips (for electronic time) so it wasn’t so much a choice between what to do. When he did read he was just choosing really easy, below grade level stuff and wanting to read them over and over again.

This was more about getting through something that took longer than 30 minutes to read. I knew he’d love it, he just wouldn’t see it through.

Removing electronics til it was done just made it a non-optional task.

When I was a kid, I didn't care for reading very much - but I was into animals. Then one day with my parents at the local drugstore, I spotted a book with a kid turning into a jaguar on the cover [0] and begged my parents to get it. I was a bit lost, since it was in the middle of a series, but it was the first book I remember wanting to read, and it was also my introduction to science-fiction. From then on I always had a sci-fi or fantasy book nearby, and I still have my original copies of that entire series.

Because of that, and from what gradeschool friends have said, I've always been of the opinion that reading is too often introduced to kids the wrong way, through textbooks or very dry non-fiction, instead of through topics they'd actually find interesting.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forgotten_(Applegate_novel...