Remember when smoking looked cool? For years in tech, holding root access was the same, a badge of honor, proof you were trusted, heroic, untouchable.

In tech, we have our own “smoking”, permanent root/admin access. For years, being the engineer with root was a badge of honor. It felt powerful, even heroic. You were the one who could swoop in and “save the day.” But beneath the surface, this creates real risk. Root access becomes not just a tool but a piece of personal identity. We start to believe that if we lose it, we lose our status.

In this episode we deep dive into the psychology of root access, the shared toothbrush model of access and access detox campaigns.