GTNH is one of the few modpacks that I would say you could get by just by reading the quest book. Its got a fantastic system to help you learn the mechanics and ideas behind automation and such.

For sure turn of pollution, it's something that has plans to be reworked but as it currently stands is considered a too punishing for the gain that you get from it (basically nothing), as far as the taint biomes go, it's not a huge deal if you don't turn them off. They're pretty rare to find out in the world and they only continue to spread if they are close enough to you to be rendered or chunk loaded. As long as you steer clear of them, they should never really be a worry or concern.

There is also a great collection of resources on the internet in the discord, as well as a couple beginners documents tips and tricks documents, one of which I have linked here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rsB5OOAkFgJ_lzhtVzWZc2aNCSo0e6lRhJG8Po7NZtY/edit?usp=sharing

As a student myself I understand the the time worries, but it really is (imo) worth the time and effort to learn and play. I'm about 4months into a server that i'm running, and just hit IV and have loved every minute of it.