I am Ok You are Not Ok

All flyers are aware that during take off and landing passengers are advised to keep all their electronic gadgets switched off. The reason given forth for this is that these equipments can interfere with the navigational systems of the aircraft.While I know that frequent flyers do not even bother to hear (forget listen)these announcements I am a bit paranoid about it and I sincerely believe that one must follow the instructions given by the crew lest risk peoples’ lives.
This incident happened a few days back when I was travelling from Bangalore to Mumbai. On the seat next to me was a young girl in her early twenties. I observed that and even before “safety belts” signs could be switched off, after the take off, she had already started her iPod. Though I thought of pointing it to her that this is against the instructions for fliers, I kept silent as I knew in a few seconds/minutes the safety belts sign would be gone.
During the flight, which was about two hours she would intermittently use her iPod or read a novel that she was carrying. After the plane started its descent again there was the usual announcement for the passengers to switch off all their electronic gadgets. I observed that this co-passenger of mine continued to watch some movie on her iPod. After a while an air hostess noticed it and asked her to switch the iPod off to which she responded that she would soon do it. I was getting a little impatient as she continued to keep it on and ignore the security advice. As I could hold myself no longer I insisted that she switch off her iPod. Her instant reaction was that “this does not interfere with the navigational systems of the aircraft”. I was furious and demanded of her to immediately switch off her iPod as it was not she but the crew who would decide what interferes with the aircraft systems. She finally had to switch off the iPod.
I am sure that this is not an isolated instance of passengers defying the instructions for fliers and having the audacity to challenge the logic for such advice. I am not an aeronautical engineer and therefore not competent to comment on what is correct. But as a layman my common sense tells me that I should follow what is advised as it not only presumably ensures my safety but also of my fellow passengers.
All of us experience many such examples in our daily life when we find people defying the laid down rules be it while driving or stopping/parking vehicles on the road or when blowing loudspeakers at late night and so on and so forth.
What does this indicate? To me it reflects the behavioral pattern “I am Ok, You are not Ok”. Not only is this attitude undesirable but also in most cases misplaced as our behavior is not based on adequate well informed reasons and justifications. I also believe that the exhibition of this behavior also underlines the feeling of a high degree of superiority complex reflected by “I know more than others” and “I don’t bother about others”. These again are negative emotions and need to be avoided. As is said, Learning always begins with Unlearning, and the first step towards unlearn is fight the feeling that I know more than others. As Newton had remarked, we all are little kids gathering pebbles of information on the sea shore and believing it to be a big booty while the enormous ocean of knowledge lies far deep and unreached by us. Let us have the humility to admit and accept that there is lot more to learn than what an individual actually knows.