I just feel like a babysitter sometimes

I teach 11th grade English in an urban school. I don't feel like I teach English even half the time though.<br><br>I feel like I'm constantly babysitting my students. They are on their phones all the time, chatting constantly, and don't give a shit about whatever lesson I've planned. I've tried different things to make it more class discussion-based, but they just want to be on their phones and chat. Many of them can't even write a paragraph properly, or spell very basic words. I only see the tips of the iceberg, but what concerns me most is that they are all headed to college next year, and a lot of them can't read a passage and summarize it easily. This is a basic college-readiness skill. And yet I feel like I'm spending most of my time saying "put your phone away" "please stop talking" "focus on the lesson". <br><br>I don't know if this is happening elsewhere, or if it's just my school, but I'm so stressed out and I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall. And I'm a newer teacher, I get that I'm still working on developing my classroom management skills, but I wish someone would give me some advice on how to get my students to focus on the lesson and stop being on their phones.