Try closing your eyes when you leave the aircraft next time, cos that what its like when the thing is full of smoke. The best you can hope for is crawling along the floor following the emergency lights to the exit, assuming you are proceeding towards it and not away from it.
Before every take off we go through an emergency brief in the flightdeck, it's an insult to our highly trained cabin crew if you cant be bothered to spend a couple of minutes watching theirs.
With regard to your quoted incident, I applaud the cabin crews actions. Passengers with books, newspapers and the like distract those who are trying to follow the briefing.
I suppose you also rush for the emergency exit row for the extra leg room.