Why can't I save or upload files, and why can none of the System Preferences options can be selected?

I am having a recurring and frustrating issue with a brand-new MacBook Pro.

When I try to use the browser-based file explorer -- i.e., whenever I want to either upload a file for some reason (e.g., to an email), or whenever I want to save a file -- I am completely unable to interact with the interface in any way. That is, I cannot navigate through the computer's directory structure, I cannot select or even highlight files in the currently-open directory structure, and when saving I cannot even edit the name of the file in the "save as" textbox. There seems to be a similar and simultaneous issue with interacting with the System Preferences UI, where again no clicks or keyboard-based actions seem to be registered.

My problem sounds essentially identical to the one mentioned in this previous thread here, except I'm using Monterey rather than Big Sur. Given that there are already some responses in that other thread, let me just do away with a couple of suggestions for what this issue might be:

• It is *not* simply an issue of trying to explore files in the "compact" mode.
• It is *not* an issue that is unique to a single browser (I've tried both Chrome and Safari, with an identical issue in both).

Restarting the computer is the only way I've currently found to solve the issue, but that's a totally unsustainable solution; I shouldn't have to restart my whole computer every time I want to download a file from the internet or adjust my system preferences.