Absentism: Students leaving the classroom to go to the bathroom

          I see that I'm not alone in feeling baffled.  I just Googled "students leaving the classroom to go to the bathroom" and found 7,990,000 results in 0.29 seconds. 

          Today a student who doesn't bother me at all when he eats a sandwich in the classroom before class (although I've suggested that we cut it into 27 pieces so he can share) left the student with whom he was paired for the duration of an exercise using the new vocabulary in context.  He was gone almost 10 minutes.  He wasn't the only one who left, although he was the one who was absent for the longest period of time.  I wrote on the blackboard, "When you leave the class, you're absent."  I talked privately to the individuals who had left class during this paired activity and, yes, I called on them to do it when the whole class resumed again.   (They needed more practice.)  But I also spoke to the whole class. 
          "I think this pair practice is very important to your success, but if you don't think so, we need to figure out why."
          I also told them that I, an old woman, could go the whole morning without taking a bathroom break.  Couldn't they control their bladders for an hour? 
          I read a blog by someone named  Terry Caesar, and she brought up the fact that in OUR college days, no one left the classroom. 
          What has changed?  Are students less self-disciplined?  If so, why?  Are students less able to focus on their lessons?  If so, why?
          What are they doing in the restroom?  Checking their messages?  Texting their friends?  I don't know.  But I know what they're NOT doing.  They're not developing their skills--neither the English language skills nor the academic skills.