Very interesting. I wouldn't doubt that people are dropping it.

I ditched Google years ago, and mostly use Brave search now. Except occasionally in Brave Search, you can append !G to the end, to get a google search. Sometimes google search is better than Brave.

Yes, search result quality has taken an absolute nose dive. I also restrict my main computer from youtube (to avoid distraction), and usually the top search results are youtube, so I scroll past them.

I find myself searching with AI a lot more. I use ppq.ai (pay per query, with lightning). That works pretty well for me.