Unfortunately, the combination of social distancing, lingering lockdowns and self-isolation because of another once-in-a-lifetime event - the COVID-19 pandemic - likely led to its cancellation.

The death of reunions started more than a decade ago, even if a barrage of plausible excuses (think: no babysitter, being out of town, on a tight budget, getting married) camouflaged the real reason.

Reunions have never been a simple case of catching up with our long-lost classmates. There were always any number of agendas at play that pushed us to attend.

Perhaps you could not resist the temptation to find out which of your former classmates had done well - and who had not.

You might also have been keen to find out which of your classmates voted "most likely to succeed" had ended up failing spectacularly on multiple fronts, along with learning who had aged well and who had not.

And it is even conceivable that you were hoping to bump into your first love, wanting to show everyone how successful you had become or had a secret desire to show off the new "you".

But social media has become the great spoiler.

We have all seen our classmates get married and divorced, purchase their cars, come out about their sexuality, have children and win and lose jobs.

We know so much about our classmates that the curiosity - once a central feature of the school reunion - has been lost.

It is not that social media has been all bad. It has allowed us to stay connected with classmates.

And there is still some hope for these once-in-a-decade events.

If the pandemic has taught us just one lesson, it is that we need and crave human contact.

Reading about our classmates' lives online is not the same as sharing laughs, tears, stories and experiences in person.

So, once it is safe to do so, perhaps break that date with your favourite streaming service and hot-foot it to your next get-together.