On a plane why do they make you pull your seat up and put your table up before landing/taking off?

Question

On a plane why do they make you pull your seat up and put your table up before landing/taking off?

Answer 1

In addition to the brace position, having your seat reclined also prevents the people behind you from exiting quickly.

Answer 2

Its a safety issue.

If your table top is down and you need to get into the emergency brace position, you cannot with it being down.

Likewise if your sitting back in you seat it is much harder to get into this position, and it also stops the people seated behind you from getting this position aswell.

Purely for safety reasons.

Answer 3

safety.  if anything should happen you really don't want the tray going into your rib cage and the person behind you bashing his head on your reclined seat.