I think that tools like Emacs and Vim are aimed at people who recognize that very often over the next few decades of their careers they are going to have a need for powerful, complex, flexible text editing, and so even if they have no interest in learning the software for its own sake its worth putting in the up front effort because it will pay off later.
For a lot of tools, both in software and other fields, there are three different classes of user.
1. Those with fairly straightforward tasks that they just want to get done.
2. Those who mostly have staightforward tasks, but occasionally have something a bit more complex but not too complex.
3. Those that need to handle everything from simple to ridiculously complicated.
Take electrical testing tools for example. For a lot of people a simple battery tester is all they need (class #1). If you want to test a battery and have never used a battery tester before, it will either be obvious what to do, or a glance at the instructions will tell you.
Some people need a bit more on occasion, and for them we have a class #2 tool, the multimeter [1]. You can still pretty easily test a battery with one, but the first time you probably will have to spend a minute or two in the manual, learning what voltage setting you want (the V with the ~ over it, or the V with the dashed and non-dashed line over it?) and which holes to plug the probes into.
Some people need a lot more. They have a class #3 tool, the oscilloscope [2]. You can check a battery with an oscilloscope, but if it is your first time you are going to spend a lot of time in the manual before you get there.
Emacs and Vim are class #3 tools.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimeter#/media/File:Fluke87...
[2] https://www.tequipment.net/Rigol/MSO1104Z-KIT/Mixed-Signal-O...