> One thing I was thinking of was sort of a "delayed" mode to updating my own dependencies.

You can do this with npm (since version 6.9.0).

To only get registry deps that are over a week old:

    $ npm install --before="$(date -v -7d)"

Source: Darcy Clarke - https://bsky.app/profile/darcyclarke.me/post/3lyxir2yu6k2s