Old person confoundment

I don't know if it's my age or the fact that I teach and therefore am around a lot of kids (mostly college freshman), but I have no clue what's going on with these people. Nothing they do makes any sense to me. There are a lot of things about the rising "ME generation" that confound me. (By the way, they don't know they're called that.)

Here's what I mean: the fact that they have to be repeatedly told not to use their phones in class; expecting an A for simply showing up; the fact that their default for referring to instructors is "First Name"--not "professor," "doctor," or "Mrs."; the fact that this generation that grew up with the internet refuses to google anything, etc. etc... 

That's all part of my ongoing bafflement. Here's what I'm confounded with this morning: Since when did students just start choosing to not do major assignments? I don't mean "life/technical issues, can I have an extension" kind of thing... I mean an email alerting me that "I am not going to do this essay."

I was a really good student. I was in the honors program. I loved being in school. I respected my professors (well, of course there were a couple who didn't deserve it, like the Spanish prof who only ever spoke in English). I did not fire off demanding last-minute emails to them; I visited office hours. And when I had "technical issues" and lost an essay, I sucked it up, had a brief meltdown, and retyped it. College was important to me, and to the people around me--not just a stop on the way to "I'm going to strike it rich and be awesome in life" land. I worked hard, went to class, and I never just chose not to do assignments. That never even occurred to me.

So, is this entitled "I'm not going to do it" behavior unusual for students? Or is is just unusual to me?
 

PS: I should add that I love teaching, and I have several respectful and good students, but they are not the majority. What I'm describing here, overall, is representative.

PPS: Who wants to join me at Shoneys for the Early Bird Dinner Buffet? 4pm? Then for dessert we can eat butterscotch on the porch swing and yell "get off my lawn" at all the neighborhood kids...