The Structural Deception of "I Can't Do This"

This paper takes as its starting point the verbal declaration “I can’t do this,” a phrase encountered with striking frequency in digital skills education—particularly in spreadsheet instruction. Rather than accepting this utterance at face value as a report of cognitive incapacity, the paper argues that it functions as a performative act encoding a cluster of defensive motivations: responsibility avoidance, dependency-seeking, and status quo preservation. Drawing on behavioral psychology and institutional economics, the analysis further demonstrates how this defensive posture is not merely a personal failing but a structurally reproduced condition—legitimized and amplified by consumer protection regulation and the commodification logic of education platforms. The paper concludes by proposing “symmetric accountability” as both a diagnostic concept and a minimal practical intervention.