a couple of thoughts :
1. FA's do themselves no favours in this department, by handing out newspapers immediately prior to the safety briefing!!! I have never understood why they do this - I mean, how can they expect pax to pay attention to a safety briefing, when they have just handed them a newspaper ?
also
2. I travel around 25-30 times per year on CRJ-700's. I always try to get the overwing exit seat (and 99% of the time succeed). The overwing exit on a CRJ (for those that may not know) is a removable door. It has a flap which folds down, then a pull handle which releases the door. The door then pivots inwards on the lower edge, before becoming completely detatched. It is then necessary to turn the door sideways, and throw it out through the hole (preferably towards the front of the wing, so the exit isn't blocked). It is then necessary to pull the hand-line out of a little door by the side of the seat, and clip it onto a yellow hook on the wing.
As you can see, there is a lot to do, and as the pax in the exit seat, it is entirely your responsibility to do all this. In order to make sure you know what you're doing, the FA's brief you before each flight. HOWEVER, the standard of these briefings varies immensely.
I have had everything ranging from totally inadequate 10-second "just pull this handle here" brief's to the excellent 2-minute thorough explanation.
I agree that it is really annoying to see arrogant pax ignoring the safety briefing (and I, out of respect, never ignore the briefing, no matter how many times I have heared it before), but the cabin crew should also try harder.
:-)
P.S. Once saw someone shout "pay attention, you arrogant b*st*rd" to someone he saw ignoring a safety brief !!