In my opinion, the obsession with being able to measure everything with numbers is the cause. And those numbers are inevitably converting d to units of money, because capitalism.
Almost the same here. I also change some ssh settings: disable root login, disable password, allow only public key login. That's about it. I never had any problems.
"something is off. I feel it..." maybe my dude is on the spectrum, maybe has severe social anxiety, maybe it's Maybelline.