In my limited experience, there are basically two flavors of Linux:

1. Latest software, everything’s available but it breaks a lot.
2. Doesn’t update frequently, might have to be cautious with third-party software but very stable.

As I’ve gotten busier, my preference for stable distros like Debian has grown. I think there’s also a lot of value in trying for due diligence the first time you install a distro. It’s much simpler to take the time and do it correctly than to try and fix it afterwards. Sometimes it takes a few attempts to get everything set up correctly, but it’s worth it long term.

I started working sixty hours a week to make ends meet. Hard to spare the time.

I think there might be a kind of tragedy of the commons thinking there, as in “Somebody is going to take advantage of this naive person, it may as well be me.”