True, but finger picking doesn't really hurt your fingers (or at least it never has for me, a guitar player of 14 years now). It's definitely pressing on the strings with your left hand that's the pain point for pretty much every budding guitarist I've ever talked to.
Funny, for me it's always the right hand that hurts when playing steel-stringed guitar.
I think it is because I don't have particularly strong nails, so they always broke very close to the flesh, so I'd have to do fingerpicking with my actual fingertips.
Most of the pain on the left hand, in contrast, was related to lack of muscle strength. After a few days of practicing it would be gone.
How much sunlight exposure do you get? My fingernails were also very weak until I started supplementing vitamin D, which made them grow noticeably thicker and stronger. I think a lot of people here spend most of their time indoors so they're at higher risk of vitamin D deficiency.
If you really want to finger pick with your nails, you can try some clear nail polish to add a little strength. If that isn't enough, you can go for the old classical guitarist trick of layering superglue and silk to add some nail strength.
