The real utility of such modes comes when you're trying to read code. At such moments, you want to get rid of all the things that would normally be of great use

The real utility of such modes comes when you're trying to read code. At such moments, you want to get rid of all the things that would normally be of great use. Things like line numbers, status bars, gitgutters, etc... Aside from reading code, such modes are also great for working with markdown files. With them, you really only care about content. The forcing fullscreen thing is definitely not for everyone though, I agree. I think such plugins would do well to have fullscreening be a configurable behavior. Even my own distraction-free plugin is guilty of forcing fullscreen onto GUI Vim users (I never really notice, since I myself use terminal vim).