How can inter-galactic communication between humans and aliens be practical?

Our universe is so big that it renders all inter-galactic communication impractical!
Suppose we build a powerful telescope and we spot intelligent aliens on a planet in a star system 1 million light years away, we will still be seeing their life as it happened 1 million years ago- since light from those times reached us today. So we wouldn’t know if they are alive today.
Anyways, assuming someone intelligent enough is still around- if we send them a message, would we know if they received our message, considering it would take another million years for it to reach them, and another million years for their reply to reach us. Would we humans be around for that long?

Taking it into real-world example- S.E.T.I. in Berkeley has been trying since many years to get in touch with any alien signals. Suppose we make a contact, isn’t it more probable that we may have found stray signals of lost alien civilization? or also, some aliens might receive our signals long after we are extinct- thus, isn’t it more probable that such attempts are futile in the universe we live in!