You are all wrongly conflating two very different things: the message, and the means of delivery.
Safety information is
critically important, and I am quite sure that no-one would disagree with that. But BA's safety briefing is verbose (it could do with being looked at by the Plain English Campaign), and frequently delivered in a rapid, barely comprehensible monotone while the member of cabin crew giving the demonstration giggles and shares a private joke with her colleague at the other end of the cabin.
The thing is, I know how to fasten and unfasten my seatbelt, and that I should keep it fastened while seated; that my seat back must be upright and tray table stored; that I mustn't smoke in the lavs; how to put on a life jacket, and that it has a whistle and a tiny light; the brace position; that, in the event of an evacuation I must take off my high heels and leave everything behind. This information never changes, and is just noise, obscuring the important message, which is:
know where your nearest exit is.
So, upon boarding, I check where the exits are, and how I would reach them, and where my lifejacket is. I am then confident that I am fully prepared to evacuate in the event of an emergency. Better-prepared, in fact, than a passenger who stares glassy-eyed at the safety demo and takes nothing in.
Now, please don't get me started on having my quiet nap interrupted by a captain who is desperate to tell us which runway we're going to be using and how high we'll be flying...
