If you think piano and guitar give your little finger a workout, try playing clarinet or saxophone. (Don't really try playing clarinet, I didn't mean it literally in that sense.)
I would be wondering why people are so easily convinced that the other way is eventually going to be easier - if that weren't such a common trait. It's part of a phenomenon that has done a lot of harm in my ex-field of computers. People will go to a lot of trouble to adopt something they have been given to understand is going to be better, and then by the time they know enough that they ought to be able to see that it's a horrible bodge, they don't at all, and rather have such a huge investment in the wizardry that they've spent so long learning that they become fanatic evangelists for it.
The other quintessential human cognitive trait here is dualism, with a small d. If there were three equally valid ways to put your hand on the left side of your accordion, then no one could possibly sustain much interest in the matter, but let there be two, and stand back! My suggestion that you should think of it in context of a larger body of technique is an attempt to steer away from that.