One of the greatest challenges of modern physics is to find a coherent method for describing phenomena, on the cosmic and microscale. For over a hundred years, to describe reality on a cosmic scale we have been using general relativity theory, which has successfully undergone repeated attempts at falsification.
There is no such thing as a four dimensional “spacetime”. That is a abstract math only concept, nothing to do with reality. Time is not a thing, nor is it a dimension. Reality is not curved or flat. That is abstract geometry that they are talking about, not reality. Only 3 abstract dimensions are required to locate anything in reality. Time is just when you want to examine these three dimensions.