Uninvited, randomly forced small mental breaks is disruptive for me.

That said, I have a real pet, when I get the feeling to play with it, I do so, and it helps my mind to come up with a solution while I'm not consciously thinking about it. I often came up with great ideas while I was talking to my girlfriend as well, essentially when I wasn't actively focusing on the issue.

Yet for me, I’ve found that small, low-effort breaks like interacting with a virtual pet actually help me reset without taking me out of the zone for too long