Are you and I using the lightning network if we've just got a private channel between us?

I would say yes. I use Primal, which uses the Strike wallet system. I also have a Strike wallet, and I've been able to send sats back and forth between the two for no fee because it's within the same node. I have also been able to send sats to a friend in Kakuma, Kenya as a zap, and he received them with no fee.

I think the ideal dream is to have everyone running their own Lightning Node, Bitcoin Node, etc. But not everyone is going to no matter how much we wish upon a star for that. I'm ok with custodial if it gets the job done and doesn't charge me an unreasonable fee. And zero (0) seems to be reasonable. I don't live in a location where Bitcoin/sats is used as a medium of exchange, but as the US government continues to collapse I'm sure we'll see more companies and providers willing to accept it via Lightning or on chain. That build up of circular economies will be faster in areas like Kakuma if we can get them some bandwidth for data.

👍

Are you really grocery shopping if you do curb side pickup or delivery?

I understand your question lol but the value received is whats important. Sure there are trade-offs but if youre able to transfer sats to your cold storage, then you did utilize the Lightning Network ⚡️

Are we even using the internet if you don't run your own ISP?