Generating Attention

I just concluded a 13-hour plane ride from Incheon, South Korea, to Washington, D.C. Overall, it was a smooth flight - some movies, eating, a little reading and snoozing. Obviously, not everyone who flies experiences a journey as long as that one. But whether the commercial flight circles the planet or is a quick hop from one city to another, all passengers are subject to the inevitable flight safety presentation. It used to be given "live," but nowadays a video accompanied by a "live" demonstration of such things as the proper way to secure a seat belt to noting where the emergency exists on the plane are is shown to all passengers. The whole thing takes less than five minutes.  

I usually fly 5-6 times per year. More and more I am observing how little passengers pay attention to what, by any standard, is an important sharing of information. What to do in case of an emergency while thousands of feet in the air can literally be a matter of life and death. Yet while the video plays and the airline steward helps put forth this information, passengers fiddle with their coats, talk with each other, discipline their children - most anything but pay attention to that which is being communicated for their own benefit. Why is this? Why don't passengers give these presentations the attention they deserve?

As I have not any done any specific research on this, I can only guess as what they reasons are. I do not, however, believe it has anything to do with the lack of quality of the video or "live" demonstration. My guess is it because people do not actually believe anything bad such as an emergency landing will happen. Abstractly, they recognize that while such an occurrence is possible, the likelihood is very small. As a result, the video-demonstration is largely ignored. This is a communication problem. What can airlines do to overcome this? Whatever the solution, their presentation needs to generate a greater sense of urgency and relevance among their audience.