In the event that an evacuation is needed, many tens of people will need to pass through your seat area in a very short time.

If any loose, discarded items are in this area - even something as innocuous as a slim paperback novel (very, very slippy when left on a carpeted floor!) or a broadsheet newspaper (that can fly up, separate into its various sheets, and trip people and/or obscure sightlines) - then the rate of egress is severely degraded, and vital seconds lost.