Michael, your concerns are shared by many. There are no easy answers but most answers will come out of direct communication with your students. What were the motivators for starting school in the first place? What do they feel they are accomplishing by not paying attention in the classroom? Do they feel such practices will be acceptable by their employers? These are but a few questions you can use to create a candid dialog with those students that seem to have another agenda within your classroom. You may also have to consider that it is not 100% their fault by looking inward and asking yourself if you are reaching them at a level they feel they can learn and be understood. Such internal reflection can be difficult for us as instructors but can be helpful in better understanding why students act the way they do at the most in-opportunistic of times. James Jackson