In Liquid Love Zygmunt Bauman argued that the solidity and security once provided by life-long partnerships has been ‘liquefied’ by rampant individualisation and technological change. He believes internet dating is symptomatic of social and technological change that transforms modern courtship into a type of commodified game. This article explores the experiences of users of digital dating and hook-up applications (or ‘apps’) in order to assess the extent to which a digital transformation of intimacy might be under way. It examines the different affordances provided by dating apps, and whether users feel the technology has influenced their sexual practices and views on long-term relationships, monogamy and other romantic ideals. This study shows that dating apps are intermediaries through which individuals engage in strategic performances in pursuit of love, sex and intimacy. Ultimately, this article contends that some accounts of dating apps and modern romantic practices are too pessimistic, and downplay the positives of ‘networked intimacy’.

In contemporary Western societies, parenting has become the subject of a substantial body of advice and self-help literature. Within this literature, questions of bilingual parenting have begun to add yet another dimension to parental anxieties. Against this background, we examine how parents in a general Australian online parenting forum discuss the desires they have for their children's bilingualism and the challenges they experience to their bilingual parenting. We first demonstrate that individual bilingualism in the abstract is discussed in highly favourable terms and is widely conceptualised as a 'gift' from parents to children. However, posters' belief in the bilingual advantage does not easily translate into effective bilingual parenting practices. First, many posters are concerned that bilingualism in the early years might be jeopardising their child's English language proficiency and hence school success. Second, a very narrow definition of 'true' bilingualism is connected with a relatively dogmatic belief in the 'one parent, one language' parenting strategy. As a result, consecutive bilinguals, particularly migrant fathers, come to be perceived as both problematic bilinguals and problematic parents. We close with implications for family language policy and advocacy in the face of entrenched institutional English monolingualism.

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