Comment by triceratops

It's a combination of phones and that we live in the age of flake. Relevant quotes

> It’s the phones, stupid. They are absolutely addicted to their phones...They can’t sit in a seat for 50 minutes. Students routinely get up during a 50 minute class, sometimes just 15 minutes in, and leave the classroom. I’m supposed to believe that they suddenly, urgently need the toilet, but the reality is that they are going to look at their phones.

> Chronic absenteeism. As a friend in Sociology put it, “Attendance is a HUGE problem—many just treat class as optional.” Disappearing students. Students routinely just vanish at some point during the semester. They don’t officially drop out or withdraw from the course, they simply quit coming.

The problems of society obviously bleed into college life.