There are constant updates to Linux Mint 18.3. The whole package gets updates even weekly, but most are for sub packages that are not pure OS related.
Yep... What I do is just turn them all off. Then about once every three months I checkbox and update just the apps that want to update. But... I do not checkbox any OS updates. What I found is that it wants to hand you OS updates that you really do not need or will never use.
I can do without those because of the dependency check when you download and install an app. At that point it will go look to see if you have what it needs to run the program and only add the bare minimum additional dependencies it takes to the download and install anyhow.
What I have found is that the OS or the kernel it’s self once it is working working all your hardware, never needs an update unless there is a new known critical security issue. and with Linux this is far and few between. It just doesn’t get security issues weekly like MS does. Other than that if it isn’t broken then don’t try to fix it. :)