--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What I saw quite clearly in the '80s…" description: "\"What I saw quite clearly in the '80s, before the internet, was that the whole world was shifting toward digital formats, and that didn't matter whether..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b0/robert-coover-23200_80s_what-i-saw-quite-clearly-in-the-80s-befo_894754.jpg" --- # What I saw quite clearly in the '80s, before the internet… ![“What I saw quite clearly in the '80s, before the internet, was that the whole world was shifting toward digital formats, and that didn't matter whether it's movies or writing or whatever. It was something that was coming. And with the invention of the World Wide Web in the early '90s, when we were…” quote by Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b0/robert-coover-23200_80s_what-i-saw-quite-clearly-in-the-80s-befo_894754.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b0/robert-coover-23200_80s_what-i-saw-quite-clearly-in-the-80s-befo_894754.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b0/robert-coover-23200_80s_what-i-saw-quite-clearly-in-the-80s-befo_894754.jpg) > “What I saw quite clearly in the '80s, before the internet, was that the whole world was shifting toward digital formats, and that didn't matter whether it's movies or writing or whatever. It was something that was coming. And with the invention of the World Wide Web in the early '90s, when we were teaching our first courses, or the arrival of the internet by way of the browser, which opened up the internet to everybody - soon it was just revolutionary.” [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He observed that the shift to digital media was inevitable, and the web accelerated that transformation across all content forms. **In simple terms:** Digital shift was inevitable; web sped it up. Key Takeaway Embrace digital change early. Themes technology change media Mood optimistic analytical Type observational historical When to use this quote - publishing - film industry - education - business strategy Key Concepts digitalization media convergence Questions to Reflect On - How did different industries respond? - What barriers slowed adoption? A Different Perspective The quote assumes all sectors adapt uniformly, ignoring resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Browsers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/browsers/) [Digital](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/digital/) [Internet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internet/) [Invention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invention/) [Revolutionary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolutionary/) [Teaching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teaching/) [Technology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technology/) [Whole world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole-world/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [World wide web](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-wide-web/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“The golden rule is even more golden in our hyperconnected world. An important lesson to learn: If you talk about someone on the Internet,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-kleon/the-golden-rule-is-even-more-golden-in-our-hyperconnected-world-an/) [Austin Kleon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-kleon/) > [The Internet has been a blessing and a curse. The curse we know: A lot of people appropriating your intellectual property without paying for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-estefan/the-internet-has-been-a-blessing-and-a-curse-the-curse-we-know-a-lot/) [Gloria Estefan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-estefan/) > [It was not easy when I was a teenager. But today, with the new technology, with the Internet, everybody can do prostitution with two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-ozon/it-was-not-easy-when-i-was-a-teenager-but-today-with-the-new/) [Francois Ozon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-ozon/) > [The internet is intimate. Everybody collects the art on the internet, everybody owns the art and enjoys it only for their self, completely selfishly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-koh/the-internet-is-intimate-everybody-collects-the-art-on-the-internet/) [Terence Koh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-koh/) > [Because of the Internet everybody sees the same stuff. You can buy the clothes of New York, even if you're not living there. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fran-lebowitz/because-of-the-internet-everybody-sees-the-same-stuff-you-can-buy-the/) [Fran Lebowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fran-lebowitz/) > [When people talk about Web 2.0, they mean that when the Internet, the World Wide Web, first became popular, it was one way only.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-snowden/when-people-talk-about-web-2-0-they-mean-that-when-the-internet-the/) [Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-snowden/) > [This is not the internet the world needs, or the internet its creators envisioned. We need to take it back. And by we, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-schneier/this-is-not-the-internet-the-world-needs-or-the-internet-its-creators/) [Bruce Schneier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-schneier/) > [I don't want to have all of my personal business and every innermost thought just out there on the Internet for the world to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ethel-cain/i-don-t-want-to-have-all-of-my-personal-business-and-every-innermost/) [Ethel Cain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ethel-cain/) > [It was something of a personal challenge for me to come up with a business suitable for the Internet world and the Internet age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-tang/it-was-something-of-a-personal-challenge-for-me-to-come-up-with-a/) [David Tang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-tang/) > [Radio on the Internet is yet another world-shrinking example of what communications analysts call death of distance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-jones/radio-on-the-internet-is-yet-another-world-shrinking-example-of-what/) Tim Jones > [I don't look on the Internet; it's a world of pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-irons/i-don-t-look-on-the-internet-it-s-a-world-of-pain/) [Max Irons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-irons/) > [With technology you can now be your own record company, director, producer, etc. If you have talent, you can display it on the Internet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/romeo-miller/with-technology-you-can-now-be-your-own-record-company-director/) [Romeo Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/romeo-miller/) > [I think that the Internet is going to effect the most profound change on the entertainment industries combined. And we're all gonna be tuning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-spielberg/i-think-that-the-internet-is-going-to-effect-the-most-profound-change/) [Steven Spielberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-spielberg/) > [The Internet where the world pretends they give a s\*\*\* about everything (for a day).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevinterribly/the-internet-where-the-world-pretends-they-give-a-s-about-everything/) KevinTerribly > [Possibly worst of all, from the standpoint of the dedicated enemies of freedom, the Internet is a world that libertarians - having been marginalized…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/possibly-worst-of-all-from-the-standpoint-of-the-dedicated-enemies-of/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) ## More by Robert Coover > [Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [I learned my realism from guys like Kafka.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/i-learned-my-realism-from-guys-like-kafka/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“She strives, understanding the futility of it, for perfection.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/she-strives-understanding-the-futility-of-it-for-perfection/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [I see no reason to stop writing. But the reason isn't always one of your own. The mind is not invulnerable, and it can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/i-see-no-reason-to-stop-writing-but-the-reason-isn-t-always-one-of/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [If you start thinking about the kids being born now, for them the computer is ancient history. So one imagines that when children think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/if-you-start-thinking-about-the-kids-being-born-now-for-them-the/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“Black holes are the seductive dragons of the universe, outwardly quiescent yet violent at the heart, uncanny, hostile, primeval, emitting a negative radiance that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/black-holes-are-the-seductive-dragons-of-the-universe-outwardly/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“I nearly drownded on the Big River back home, but I didn't. Instead, I come to love the river, though the river never loved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/i-nearly-drownded-on-the-big-river-back-home-but-i-didn-t-instead-i/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [There's no need to inundate the world with books and language. It's just too full already. There's so much rubbish hiding in the world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/there-s-no-need-to-inundate-the-world-with-books-and-language-it-s/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“Oh, he shouldn't be surprised, he's a Marxist and has nothing but contempt for the bourgeois capitalist press, yet paradoxically he is also somehow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/oh-he-shouldn-t-be-surprised-he-s-a-marxist-and-has-nothing-but/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“Why we write. Because art blows life into the lifeless, death into the deathless. Because art's lie is preferable, in truth, to life's beautiful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/why-we-write-because-art-blows-life-into-the-lifeless-death-into-the/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [Some ways of naming a generation are fruitful and some are not. Postmodernism is not. It doesn't really say anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/some-ways-of-naming-a-generation-are-fruitful-and-some-are-not/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [People, fearing their own extinction, are willing to accept and perpetuate hand-me-down answers to the meaning of life and death; and, fearing a weakening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/people-fearing-their-own-extinction-are-willing-to-accept-and/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“No matter how much sunlight and fresh air she lets in, there’s always this dark little pocket of lingering night which she has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/no-matter-how-much-sunlight-and-fresh-air-she-lets-in-there-s-always/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [We need myths to get by. We need story; otherwise the tremendous randomness of experience overwhelms us. Story is what penetrates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/we-need-myths-to-get-by-we-need-story-otherwise-the-tremendous/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) > [“...'Well, I think of you as a straight shooter, Sheriff, but one who can't stop lustin' after the goddamn ineffable.' "She said that, hunh?"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/well-i-think-of-you-as-a-straight-shooter-sheriff-but-one-who-can-t/) [Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) [Explore all 24 Robert Coover quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/) ## More 80s quotes > [In the '80s, the way radio was programmed, if you didn't have a hit record you weren't going to be able to make any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huey-lewis/in-the-80s-the-way-radio-was-programmed-if-you-didn-t-have-a-hit/) [Huey Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huey-lewis/) > [As an actor I kind of do. I started out doing voice overs in the mid 80s when I was in grad school.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-haden-church/as-an-actor-i-kind-of-do-i-started-out-doing-voice-overs-in-the-mid/) [Thomas Haden Church](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-haden-church/) > [It's nice to have been around long enough to be a part of people's lives. A lot of people who come to my show…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheena-easton/it-s-nice-to-have-been-around-long-enough-to-be-a-part-of-people-s/) [Sheena Easton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheena-easton/) > [ It was a very economically depressed time \[the 80s\] and because of that, there was a lot of space. Everything was relatively dilapidated, and… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiki-smith/it-was-a-very-economically-depressed-time-the-80s-and-because-of-that/) [Kiki Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiki-smith/) > [If for no other reason than it's just fun to watch people age, and it's fun to watch what happened to '80s hairdos and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-borstein/if-for-no-other-reason-than-it-s-just-fun-to-watch-people-age-and-it/) [Alex Borstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-borstein/) > [I don't dislike rappers or hip-hop or people who like it. I went to the Def Jam tour in Manchester in the '80s when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noel-gallagher/i-don-t-dislike-rappers-or-hip-hop-or-people-who-like-it-i-went-to/) [Noel Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noel-gallagher/) > [Since I was gay and loved disco music, it was kinda pre-programmed that my first experiences with house music and acid - which I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-kohncke/since-i-was-gay-and-loved-disco-music-it-was-kinda-pre-programmed/) Justus Kohncke > [We are upsetting the atmosphere upon which all life depends. In the late 80s when I began to take climate change seriously, we referred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-suzuki/we-are-upsetting-the-atmosphere-upon-which-all-life-depends-in-the/) [David Suzuki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-suzuki/) > [When I was coming up in the '80s television, if you were on television that meant either you were a young actor just coming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-bob-thornton/when-i-was-coming-up-in-the-80s-television-if-you-were-on-television/) [Billy Bob Thornton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-bob-thornton/) > [My fashion was not the best in the '80s. I looked crazy as hell. I used to wear my pants tucked into my socks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deon-cole/my-fashion-was-not-the-best-in-the-80s-i-looked-crazy-as-hell-i-used/) [Deon Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deon-cole/) > [Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-cook/bin-laden-was-though-a-product-of-a-monumental-miscalculation-by/) [Robin Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-cook/) > [When someone asks if you're a god, you say YES!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernie-hudson/when-someone-asks-if-you-re-a-god-you-say-yes/) [Ernie Hudson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernie-hudson/) > [His (Lloyd Kaufman) string of low-budget, lowbrow horror comedies stretching back to the ’80s has been cited as influence by Peter Jackson, the Farrelly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-lumenick/his-lloyd-kaufman-string-of-low-budget-lowbrow-horror-comedies/) Lou Lumenick > [I have this obsession with the '80s because I missed all of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/regina-spektor/i-have-this-obsession-with-the-80s-because-i-missed-all-of-it/) [Regina Spektor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/regina-spektor/) > [It was the case in the 70s and 80s that people believed music could change the world. But now people aren't making music because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinead-o-connor/it-was-the-case-in-the-70s-and-80s-that-people-believed-music-could/) [Sinead O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinead-o-connor/) Browse all 488 80s quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What I saw quite clearly in the '80s, before the internet, was that the whole world was shifting toward digital formats, and that didn't matter whether it's movies or writing or whatever. It was something that was coming. 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