Yeah, this is a dumb way to go about it. I'm the same as Robbie21 I'll be afk for hours while playing on my mobile, or I'll be playing 2+ hours actively without ever looking at my messages.
I'm not sure how they track botters in this, but whatever they're doing seems to be working for the most part. I'm sure there are some people who are getting away with it.
How do you play the game if you´re afk ?
you have to be on the device all the time to do anything, fishing, muting, exploring
if you do any of these things, i dont see an issue replying to a message/ or press a button or anything similar
if you´re litreally afk and dont do anything, it´s a diffrent story ofc