From the "I've got more important things to worry about" department, I just take the policy as an annoyance that I live with, or fly another airline. It isn't worth picking fights, arguments, or anything of the sort. However, until the explanation by AS Flyer, it did seem nonsensical, i.e., how gate-to-gate entertainment on UA with headphones was permitted, but somehow on AS, a headphone is a projectile strangulation device, and so I even questioned a FA about it, and received an answer I just "lived with" - until today, the day of eternal enlightenment. Does the inspector also keep track of tardies, and give demerits and detention?