Stampede at the gate
My 10 penny'th on this, - Selfish I know, bigoted - probably, neurotic - certainly; -
I am not as young as I used to be, like everyone, I do not like stress/hassle/queuing etc, the worst part of flying is the boarding process, so my reasoning is, get on first (few people in front of me to block the aisle, seats, or just irritate me), put my hand luggage in overhead or on floor, get into my seat with reading material, watch everyone, else board, hope that whoever is due to sit next to me isn't fat/loud/very young/smells of alcohol, stale tobacco or worse.
Having tried every conceivable seat on a short haul plane, I usually opt for the rearmost seats (no one behind you) Easyjet the exception as no window.
From this point on it is usually fairly painless, (unless Ryanair, where your ears are assaulted by loud audio ads).