Avman,
It always is very annoying when pax talk, read papers, or just look out of the window whilst we are doing the saftey demo. But you can only hope that something that you are saying will sink in. Sure, it is a brilliant idea that all pax put down papers, books ect, but it just will not happen. We can not inforce that, although I wish we could. The only time I will tell a pax to pay attention the saftey demo is if they are talking extremley loud and it is interfering with other pax trying to hear and see the demo.
I always give a little nod, smile or wink to the pax that I know are listening to the saftey pa. They are easy to spot, as they are the ones that look around for the nearest exit, feel for the lifejacket, and read the saftey card. As much as it is respect, it could just save their butts, and that is the important thing.
Once I was flying with BA and I seen one FA go up to a group of pax that spoke througout the entire demo and said " I noticed that I did not have your full attention during the saftey demo, for your own saftey, I would like to make sure that you are aware where your nearest exit is". Of coarse they didnt know, but at least they knew after they had personally been told. They blushed, so here's hoping that next time they will listen.