I am afraid that searching for a solution on Google has become a quasi-synonym of searching on Stack Exchange, seen the number of posts from Q&A sites that come up at the top of the results.
Sometimes I have experienced that getting hold of definitions of something on the www is discouraging because the number of people who struggled with that something is so high that the number of Q&A is overwhelming. The so-called general reference disappears towards the tail of the listing.
Skimming through search results can be so exhausting that one just throws down a new question, only for a greater sense of helplessness and urge caused by the search itself. Moreover, smaller devices only augment the eye discomfort and often invite using poor-quality time for activities that actually demand sustained focus and critical thinking. Hence, a shorter attention span and so forth...
Also, in many a parlance, search it on Google, google it or you'll find it on Google has become a sloppy replacement for you'll get it sorted yourself, won't you or I am a great expert, but thanks to Google I don't need try and explain myself, right?. This creates inflation of questions, I presume. (Not to mention that this may sound unfair to other search engines that are not Google...)
I believe that we should take into account the potential role of these situations in figuring out the trends within SE and the like. The risk that I see that the more search engines tap from Q&A questions (fair in itself), the more fractal the path to the understanding of what the question is about in the first place.
Possible mitigation measures. Have Q&A forums glossaries where the visitors can first figure out what they are trying to target first, and then formulate their questions? Would it be useful that to give more prominence to the tags and make their definitions serve as path-finders ahead of the question? Should search engines privilege the what is? questions, rather?