Is it possible to exit a command without entering another command?

That's exactly what I teach my intro-level students, Nancy OShea. In all Adobe apps, I encourage them to select a neutral tool after they finish a task with a specific tool (i.e., Zoom, Type, Brush, Magic Wand) so that when (not if, but when) they inadvertently click on the document, nothing crazy happens. And some of these clicks—with the Zoom and Type tools, for example—don't respond to Edit > Undo.

I direct my students to return to the Move tool in Photoshop because the only that happens when they click on the document is the active layer changes if Auto-Select is activated. Layer awareness is a primary focus of my intro classes, so I'm busy drilling that in anyway.

My more experienced students figure out how not to click by accident, but there is so much for a new user to learn about Photoshop, it can be overwhelming. As an instructor, I've learned that getting new users to adopt this one habit reduces their stress.

~Barb