Every morning for the almost four decades they had lived in this house, Ove had put on the coffee percolator ... one measure for each cup, and one extra for the jug - no more, no less. People didn't know how to do that any more, brew some proper coffee. In the same way as nowadays nobody could write with a pen. Because now it was all computers and espresso machines. And where was the world going if people couldn't even write or brew a bit of coffee?
-- Narration (chapter 2)

Importance: By using a specific example, this quote in general defines how Ove feels about progress, and the world in which he lives.

...nowadays people are all thirty-one and wear too-tight trousers and no longer drink normal coffee. And don't want to take responsibility. A shed-load of men with elaborate beards, changing jobs and changing wives and changing their car makes. Just like that...
-- Narration (chapter 2)