I find it worse on United with the seatbelt thing than any other airline. Alaska has been OK with it IME, or perhaps it's just gotten that bad on UA.

I feel like any time there's as much as a tiny bump on UA, the seatbelt sign lights up and isn't turned off for like a half hour despite no further turbulence.

The bottom line here is, not to get too OMNI on everybody, but the US allows for stupid frivolous lawsuits like "The McDonald's coffee was too hot and it burnt me!" and probably allows for "The airline didn't warn me I could bump my head on something if I got up!" -- so some captains/crew are taking a "cautious" approach to being a bit more stingy on the seatbelt sign.

I can't stand the ones who use the REQUIRED Lingo myself. I have absolutely no problem with the safety concerns surrounding this, but really, when they leave it on for long periods w/ no turbulence it gets kinda silly.