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I'm not suggesting they don't need to use their finger to follow along with the words on the page. I used to teach first grade (6 year olds) and understand how important it is for some children to learn to read that way, although that's not how every child learns. Some children are more tactile than others. Some children do better with bookmarks held underneath the line of text and yet others seem to be natural decoders who just pick up reading with little outside help. However, if needed, they can learn to follow along without actually physically making contact with the page or screen. There's a lot more to learning to read than being able to point to the words on the page. Frankly, by the time they get to the end of first grade, I would prefer that my students do not follow along with their finger. They should be past that basic step and have learned to follow text with their eyes just like any other established reader. There will always be exceptions to this, of course, but the main purpose of teaching is helping the student to keep moving forward in the learning process.
I do agree with you that it shouldn't be the only way for children to experience text, but it could be the main component.
You can't really compare reading to math. To learn mathematics, children need to learn the basic concepts which build on each other to help take the learning to the next step of mathematical calculations and many of those concepts are better learned through hands on manipulation. Once the basic concepts are learned and the student shows mastery, I have no problem with a child who wants to use a calculator to reduce the time needed to do complicated computations so they might continue on to the next concept. If they already know how to do it on paper, using a calculator isn't going to alter that knowledge. Learning to use the calculator is part of the elementary mathematics curriculum.
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