I believe this is true. I’ve tried Pinboard, Evernote, Devonthink, Keep It, Bear, etc… I used to store EVERYTHING.
The problem is that it’s unwieldy and unnecessary (for most) to keep all that overhead of information. If you’re a researcher, then that’s a different story. But for the average person, Google can be a million times faster than a personal reference system.
Basically all I use these systems for are for long-running information that I want to keep track of that a file system makes cumbersome.
- Lists of immediate family members (clothing/shoe sizes, gift ideas, milestones, bits of info I typically forget)
- Lists of equipment around the house (tire sizes on the cars, registration info, light bulbs for different ceiling fixtures, etc…)
- Notes on projects (did I run into a problem multiple times? Mark it down so I can easily find the solution again when I forget)
- Highlights from Books (I find it helpful to keep a running list of any book I’ve read and the highlights with page numbers of anything that stood out to me)
- Temporarily permanent data (usually details about an upcoming trip)
So basically it’s just list upon list upon list. I find these bucket apps do a great job of that. I find it cumbersome to try and do this in the file system (especially iOS). 
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I hear what you’re saying, but my perspective is a little different. I have an organizational system that helps me work on things over the course of years. So every time I find a quote, article, book, video on a particular subject I’m either interested in or actively doing writing/research, I put it in that folder under “Resources.” I often bold and highlight (progressively summarize - a process I summarize here) the key parts I think my future self will find most useful so I can get back to the meat of the thing quickly and overtime my “second brain” is doing the heavy lifting, building a database of data and content. This “slow burner” approach has come in handy multiple times and quite literally saved my bacon at least once! The other part of it is that it doesn’t hurt or take any personal effort for my Evernote folder on “participatory culture” to have 10 articles/links/pdfs in it that span four years, and because I opted to put those there, it is a highly curated set of articles on the topic, often progressively summarized. So that information becomes very valuable for me as a writer and researcher. I hope that helps.
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Google Keep is ideal for lists. So is Anylist. Both have great websites and iOS apps.
Both are free, though Anylist has cheap subscriptions ($9.99) if you want to use the Mac app or if you want a family subscription ($14.99) where members can share/edit lists.
I use both. In Anylist I have several grocery lists, which I can filter by store. But I also have multiple non-food-related lists, including one just of lightbulbs (with attached iPhone pic) for every light in the house. And I use Google Keep for different kinds of lists, including esoteric ones (like Jackie Chan moveies that were recommended). Lots of my lists in Google Keep could be replicated in Notes, but I really like the see-everything UI and the easy ability to attach URLs & pics, use colored page backgrounds and tags, take voice notes, and even give myself reminders. All free, no ads.
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Thanks. I’ll check that out. One of the apps I actually haven’t tried yet. 