Students today are innumerate and it makes me so sad

I’m an Algebra 2 teacher and this is my first full year teaching (I graduated at semester and got a job in January). I’ve noticed most kids today have little to no number sense at all and I’m not sure why. I understand that Mathematics education at the earlier stages are far different from when I was a student, rote memorization of times tables and addition facts are just not taught from my understanding. Which is fine, great even, but the decline of rote memorization seems like it’s had some very unexpected outcomes. Like do I think it’s better for kids to conceptually understand what multiplication is than just memorize times tables through 15? Yeah I do. But I also think that has made some of the less strong students just give up in the early stages of learning. If some of my students had drilled-and-killed times tables I don’t think they’d be so far behind in terms of algebraic skills. When they have to use a calculator or some other far less efficient way of multiplying/dividing/adding/subtracting it takes them 3-4 times as long to complete a problem. Is there anything I can do to mitigate this issue? I feel almost completely stuck at this point.