If I only wanted to degoogle and disable other manufacturer’s bloatware from my Android device, is using adb to “uninstall” the system apps from user 0 pretty much as effective as rooting and using something like debloat terminal while rooted or are there bypasses that make rooting the better option? I’m not concerned about reclaiming the space used by these disabled system apps in this case.
The first thing to consider is what you want to archive. Security and privacy are not the same thing, however go hand in hand. With rooting you can go deeply into your systems setup, however it also opens potential threats against you. Adb is more secure. When it comes to privacy consider also rethinkdns or any other firewall. You can block internet access to specific apps and even system apps.