The traditional engine order telegraph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_order_telegraph is a beautiful piece of mechanical design. A more modern version would be aircraft-style throttle handles, which are also placed close together so that you naturally move two or four of them together with one hand movement. Reducing that to a checkbox just seems .. inadequate.
As Wikipedia states, nuclear vessels still have EOTs, though they’ve evolved.
On Virginia-class subs, the EOT has been made into a linear button array. It’s arranged in logical order (All Ahead Flank at top, descending to All Stop, then down to All Back Emergency; there are small gaps in between Ahead, Stop, and Back groups), and the button flashes when an order is received. There’s also an audible alert, of course.
The throttles themselves are small hand wheels, with the astern wheel being smaller and offset from the ahead wheel. These send redundant signals to the main engine controllers (which also redundant), which ultimately control the main engines. In the event of an emergency, there is a manual override station between the main engines – this is outside of maneuvering, and would require a different watchstander to man, since the propulsion plant operator is also running the reactor.
To your main point though, yes, a checkbox is inadequate. Physical controls are generally superior, which is why car manufacturers who moved away from them are starting to move back.
This (seemingly elegant) Virginia-class implementation feels like an inheritance of the Rickover and SUBSAFE philosophy. Not sure how the surface Navy would accept anything less.
Similar controls are used on modern ships. They usually though have an option to control both engines with one throttle to avoid having to manually synchronise the speed of both. Not sure if they have a reversion to separate control if someone grabs the currently redundant lever.
