I don't quite understand how useful AI is if conversations get long and have to be ended. Can someone help me figure out how to make this sustainable for myself? Using Claude Sonnet 4.6.

First, please tell me if there's a better forum to go to for newbies. I don't want to drag anyone down with basics. I'm starting to use AI in my personal life, but the first problem I'm encountering is the conversations gets long and have to be compacted all the time, and eventually it isn't useful because compacting takes so damn long. I also don't want to start a new conversation because, I assume, that means I lose everything learned in the last one.