De-focus All Windows on Pop!_OS 20.04

Is anyone else out there using Pop!_OS 20.04?

I have an issue that’s driving me crazy. I have a habit of just clicking on the desktop to de-focus (or unfocus or deactivate) all windows when I am not using a particular application, so that stray keystrokes don’t get accidentally applied where they don’t belong. That has served me well in every desktop operating system I have used to date.

But the new Pop breaks this paradigm. I can’t just click on the desktop to deactivate all apps. After the click, the previously active window will magically become active again. Keystrokes get entered into the last app instead of being blocked.

Is it me or is this a design feature/bug? What is the advantage to such a behavior?

Pop is GNOME based and GNOME prescribes keyboard as a primary means to navigate around. Mouse is secondary. This perhaps a feature. If you lock out the keyboard out to the desktop, you wont be able to navigate around as quickly.

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