I believe you are correct, sam4321. Arranged marriages aren’t as picky as dating marriages are, and they seem to work out better. That is true when you compare the marriages of today’s daters to yesteryears (thousands of years as you said) arranged marriages, or even if you compare the marriages of today’s daters to today’s marriages that were arranged. There are less divorces in the latter of both comparisons. The arranged marriages also seem happier with less “expectations and demands” from each other.
Even moreso, look at the fact that arranged marriages (today and yesteryear) are generally much closer in age than the average age gap between people married via dating.
You’ll notice the age gap issue developed roughly in conjunction with the move from arranged marriages to marriages via dating. And only among the communities that changed to dating. The communities that still continue arranged marriages today do not have the age gap crisis.
So you may have a point that the relatively recent change to dating for marriage instead of arranged marriages (as was done through Jewish history) is the root cause of the age gap crisis. Reversing this may be the solution, if that is attainable.