Lack of Focus is Depressing

I know we're approaching the end of the school year, and I'm looking forward to a long, restful summer. However, I'm still feeling some depression regarding the behavior of students. Specifically, I'm so sick of not getting the respect or attention from them I need. Again, I'm sure some of it stems from the fact that it's the end of the school year, but I just despise how little interest these kids have anymore.

I've only been teaching for two years, but Jesús Cristo I cannot stand the state of students' attention spans and/or their intrigue in the subject material. I teach high school Biology, and while I don't expect everyone to enjoy biology or be as geekily enthusiastic about it as I am, but I can't imagine not at least being slightly engaged in the material. I've tried mixing up the way material is presented - I've used basic lectures, labs, games, candy as rewards, extra credit incentives... It's absurd the lengths I go to as an individual who just wants to make school enjoyable for these kids. No matter what I try though, it always loops back to the same crap. They just want to look at their phones and mindlessly scroll through stupid-ass TikToks of toddlers twerking, people engaging in staged sexual harassment, or whatever inane "challenge" trend is current to satisfy their addiction. (That, or their filming some asinine sitting flash mob thinking I won't notice). It's not just the phones, though. When I confiscate their phones, they just find some other way to dick around. They'll use their bottles from lunch as projectiles to play catch with or they'll draw anatomically inaccurate penises all over my desks. Whatever it is, the students just seem to gravitate towards the least productive thing imaginable.

I'm at a complete loss, and it's really affecting my mental health. I love teaching, I love helping people learn, and I love helping people decide what they want to do with their lives. None of my fervor gets through to them, however, and I just cannot stand the lack of ambition these kids have.

Last night, my girlfriend and I went on a walk and we saw some turtles in the river. She asked how turtles manage to hold their breath for so long since they don't have gills. I got really excited to tell her about cloacal respiration, but halfway through my explanation she cut me off to show me a picture of her mom's dog her parents had sent her. I know she didn't mean any harm by it, because I love that dog so much, but I just got really depressed being reminded of how no matter how passionately I try to explain something, I can't compete with smartphones. And don't get me wrong, I'm well-aware I am addicted to my smartphone as well, but even so I try to work on it and stay engaged when other people talk to me. I'm not perfect, and I'm even guilty of giving my girlfriend the same treatment of phubbing her like I just described, but I really want to get out of the habit.

Sorry, that was a bit tangential, but the reason I brought it up was I'm just realizing how much the lack of engagement has been affecting me both at school and in my personal life. I've read plenty of posts similar to the problem with inattentiveness, but I'm just curious if anyone has had any success stories regarding this similar issue. I just want to have fun teaching again, as it really does ruin the experience when I slowly realize I'm just a glorified babysitter for a significant portion of the day.

Thank you for reading and for any responses you may have. I hope you're having a fantastic day.