When clocks are sent into space, their matter speeds up. Their displays show a different time, but time itself did not dilate. Time did not speed up.

If you pay attention, then you can know that with Spacetime we have a framework in which we discuss the behavior of matter. The subject matter is the behavior of matter, and not time, and not space.

So, when anyone discusses time as dilating, then they are telling you that they are not understanding Spacetime. They wagged the dog instead of having the dog wag its tail.

The clocks sped up because the material that informed the clocks sped up. Matter sped up.

Time is always the Now. There is no other time anywhere in the universe, and there never was any other time than the Now.

Spacetime ‘measures’ the behavior of matter. Similarly, a tape measure can measure how tall you are. Yet the tape measure was not involved with how tall you ended up becoming. No matter how correct the tape measure always is, it has nothing to do with how tall you are, never ever ever. That is not how the universe works.

For the record: Time is a phenomenon. It means that it is real, but it does not have any attributes of its own.

Don’t let anyone ever take you to the cleaners.