I earned a small amount of BTC for a referral on an exchange that I have let sit for a few months. It is under $10US. I wanted to send it to another exchange to buy an inexpensive altcoin just for fun. I didn't even have enough to cover the network fee to send a miniscule amount to the other exchange. I'm not going to buy more, so what do I do with this? It seems like waste, and it makes me think that using BTC for day-to-day living will never work. Thoughts?
Buy dogecoin and send it instead. You will loose some small percentage in the process of exchanging back and forth.
Check carefully what are the doge prices on both exchanges, if they differ somewhat a lot, try to find another coin with cheap transaction fees
(that obviously exist on both exchanges U are using).
About you fears regarding BTC usage... you just wait
and be surprised AnD amazed in the same time, with brand new lightning network.
However for now, you are right.