One of those exceptions is to be 65 years or older. Guess who that disproportionately benefits?

There are better editors to learn if your goal is to not learn vi.

In vi, search is not only used for searching, but also for navigation. Demoting search from an easy-to-reach single key to a difficult-to-press chorded key combination breaks one of vi’s core philosophies, natural editing flow, and will significantly reduce your enjoyment and efficiency using the editor.