It's not "state of UX", it's "state of UX in big social media and adtech" (and partially shops). And it's becoming more aggressive and user-hostile.
"Linear Navigation", "Decluttering", "Content First", "Large Headlines", "Functional Animation", "The Dominance Of Videos". You can't design graphics or text editor with these principles. You can't design useful everyday things with these principles (or you can, but you will design Juicero). You can design only zombie-content-consumption TV-like things with these principles.
Ah, I forgot that term "UX" is only used by mobile & adtech swindlers.
Also, the article does not mention in-page pop-ups (in 2017 they appear after delay or scrolling) and anti-adblockers. Very noticeable UX elements nowadays, for example Medium, on which this blog is hosted, shows modal popup every time, after small delay.
