I think this assertion is false in the sense the digital devices weren't designed to track you, they have evolved to being able to do that. The first mobile phones did not have GPS or mobile data, they were simply there to make calls. Even SMS was an after thought.

Pillows were definitely designed to make your head comfortable while they can also be used for pillow fights. But they evolved into being used for pillow fights.

I think the author is externalising prejudices that we have towards the tools and objects that surround us. Tools aren't conscious and aren't making those decisions (how we use the tools) for us.

On the other hand, a hammer does not wake me in the middle of the night to tell me to hammer nails into wood. And this is were are digital devices are beginning to mutate from being mere tools to be being, in some sense, conscious entities telling us what we should be doing: "you should now answer this email" or "you should be preparing for that meeting" or "there is this call here, you have to answer it".