After centuries of failed attempts, technology has finally, with the invention of geolocated dating apps, led to the downfall of Western civilization -- or so you might believe if you read a new Vanity Fair article that presents an ugly image of how hookup culture in the age of the smartphone is changing the way young people think about sex and relationships. As you may have heard , dangerous online dating has been destroying and ruining dating, romance and commitment for years. Now that there are apps for that, too, it's time to despair.

Or, maybe not. Something has been lost in the kerfuffle over the Vanity Fair article : what the data says. Specifically, what data from or about Tinder, Match.com and other matchmaking apps or websites could tell us about who is using them, how they're using them, and how many people are actually hooking up or getting married as a result.

Dating sites themselves collect and store a lot of data, but they rarely publish or analyze it. (That's one reason OK Cupid's now-defunct blog was so compelling: It used the company's own data to come to insights about race , first dates , sex and beauty .)

In the absence of good data from dating companies themselves, unfortunately, journalists and analysts often have to rely on surveys to form hypotheses instead.

The Pew Internet and Life Project conducted and published its most recent survey on online dating in May 2013, when it found that 11 percent of American adults have used online dating sites or mobile dating apps. Tinder, which is now one of the most popular apps and the central focus of the Vanity Fair piece, launched in 2012.

Pew found that public attitudes about online dating have become more favorable over time, even though most people have had bad experiences while using these sites and services. (It's worth noting, however, that bad dates certainly predate the Internet.) Seventy-nine percent of users agreed online dating was a good way to meet potential mates, and 70 percent agreed that people find a better romantic matches online than offline.

(There was a notable exception that speaks to the social impact these sites and apps have on relationships: About one-third of respondents agreed with the statement that "online dating keeps people from settling down.")