Are you implying that a 97 year old can't learn anymore? My 95 year old grandmother learned to use a Windows machine and an Android phone.
There are a lot of tactile reasons that "stalks" work for lights and wipers, or that buttons press versus rotate. Or that things that do rotate click into place.
Interestingly, I have 2 grandmothers at this age, both at extremely different levels of cognitive and physical ability.1 has an ipad and plays bridge on it, while the other hasn't been able to use a computer for a decade.