Is Ben Affleck & Jennifer Lopez’s comeback timing coincidental?

We’re Suckers of a Happy End and Hollywood romance, and fair — admit you were getting excited when the gossip columns published that Ben Affleck is peeking at engagement rings last week.

Affleck and Lopez are not the only glamorous couple to have recently reunited. Pretty much at the same time, last May, following the nostalgic reunion episode of “Friends,” rumors began about the comeback of Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer.

So did the stars aligned so well in the sky or is something tectonic happening here?

I remembered that a month ago I saw the following headline: “What are the chances of winning the same love again?: 20 years after they broke up, Hadas and Eric are back together.” And I really wondered what the odds were. Chance is a concept from statistics, but the Central Bureau of Statistics still does not collect data on a comeback of youthful loves (or of the things that really matter in life …) so I did a little empirical research and found that a title like this which in years past was rarer and would cause us to ask in amazement “What is the chance? “, Has become more common since the outbreak of the corona (both in Hebrew and English), and it can be assumed that if the number of headlines and videos on the subject has increased, then the number of unreported cases is even greater.

What is the explanation for this?

Many of these people met the love of their life at a young age, some would say too young. Some just did not have the courage to hit on their love object, and others were couples who went on their separate ways for different reasons while repressing their feelings. In one article the psychologist rationally explained that it was too early in life infatuation — that it was impossible to jump to stage 5 of life when they were in stage 3, and so parted ways as each continued on a ‘marriage plus children’ path with other partners, and divorced later on. Last December, Adv. Inbal Laor-Tzadik warned in an interview with TheMarker that “a wave of divorces is ahead of us” and added that “today women are more financially independent, and therefore it is easier for them to break up a relationship. Many young people give up on themselves very quickly, and also quickly give up on the relationship. Sometimes even with babies a few months old. “

The BBC reports that Advocate Laor Tzadik’s warning has been realized: “Divorce law firm in the UK reported a 122% increase in divorce inquiries.” Forbes goes on to report that in the U.S. an online legal contract provider reported a 34% increase in downloads of basic divorce agreements, perhaps most striking (if not disturbing) was that 20% of sales of divorce contracts were to newlyweds. The BBC goes on to report similar increases in breakups in China and Sweden. It would appear that being unhappy, even if it is for a short period of adjustment, is no longer acceptable … “

Liraz Margalit explains in her blog at TheMarker that “to understand what is going on here one has to go to the pre-Corona period. This routine was characterized by what Sherry Terkel calls Together Alone. There has never been a time in history when it was as simple to be together and alone. The technology allows a lot of worn-out couples to continue to be together, maintain a relationship and a functioning family with “family studio photos on Rosh Hashanah on Face” and photos from Eilat in the summer on Insta, all without “being forced” to spend time together. One is with his cell phone in his world and has no need to spend unnecessary time with his partner beyond the arrangements of who will take the children to kindergarten … The prolonged period of lockdown changed all that, or as one of my interviewees said: Suddenly I had to get to know the person I live with at home. ‘

If this reminds you of The Big Resignation, it’s not for nothing.

People in this time of crisis are awakening, realizing what is really important to them, and refusing to continue pretending in an unhappy marriage. The Great Awakening.

Technology and social networks also have a positive side to this story. Today it is much easier to find people through them, and they are what made some of these love stories come true.

So please do me a favor, don’t waste 20 years. Always go with your heart.

And we’ll wrap up with the Olympics’ slogan that will literally cause all the pieces of the puzzle to fall into place:

United by Emotion