It was probably the fact that you were in an exit row. I've had FAs on US make me put my pillow in the overhead prior to landing before, telling me, "You can't have a pillow in an exit row." (And, had people here say, "Good for the FA! I don't want to trip on your pillow if we evacuated!" )

FWIW, I usually turn my QC2s on when the captain signals the end of the sterile cockpit on UX flights, well before the FAs make the "it is now OK to use permitted electronic devices; a list of which appears in your Hemispheres magazine" spiel. The FAs have never complained before, and I'm complying with the hairbrained FAA rules on electronics to boot ('cause we're over 10k feet by then anyway)