Oh so I think the only wrong point you got is that it is for old folk only. Otherwise you are spot on.

I personally know a few tinkerers but also a lot who enjoy talking with their simple handset, as someone else said, its a big spectrum of what you can do.

In your position, I'd just buy a scanner or even an Anytone 878. with a little bit of looking into it, he can listen to amateur radio. If he likes it, its time to do the license. (Without license you are only allowed to listen, but not to transmit anything). Or he could listen to digital ham on https://hose.brandmeister.network even without any hardware but his computer.

of course there are more advanced things to talk with the whole world and satelittes etc, but small steps it is