So a while back I threw Ubuntu 22 LTS on an old Surface Pro 3 and gave it to my Dad.
He loves it, but he's the type who's been burnt by updating software in the past, so he basically refuses any whenever prompted.
Been thinking about throwing Debian with Gnome on it for a while, and wondering if it's stable enough to just let updates happen automatically in the background?
I got no experience with Debian I basically jumped right on EndeavourOS as my main distro when I started using Linux full time.
I understand having updates go south on you, I do use a rolling release on my own PC, Annnnd Windows 10 before that.
But I'm paranoid about security, increasingly so in recent times. So I at least want him on an updated web browser.
You're right to be paranoid, it's unrelenting how many and varied are the ways of those wanting to take advantage. I hope you find a good compromise for your dad.
If you install (well more like unpack) Firefox from the official binary tarball, that will update itself.