I don't understand what you mean by your last sentence. Are you saying that your friends are too distracted by TV to learn coding?

I feel that if my peers would stop with the incessant stream TV, movie, and video games, they would have no problem fitting in the time to learn all manner of useful tricks, including picking up skills that would free them from the jobs they hate.

I don't believe this is a collective personal shortcoming on their part-- it's probably just the way of the world-- but the idea that so many of them hate their jobs but have ten hours a week to play games/watch films frustrates me. Rationally I understand why you might want to spend the day between your swing shifts waiting tables doing something other than working, but from where I am I think that all I can do is encourage them to do other things and point out resources.

I think people often use media to self-medicate and distract themselves from their problems. Many of your peers probably don't even enjoy a lot of the media they consume, but they keep consuming it because it is easier to to do that than think deeply about their situation and take the risks necessary to change it. If media is your coping mechanism for a bad situation, it's tough to put that aside even though it's rationally the obvious thing to do.

10 hours of leisure time a week is too much?

Also why exactly do you think it is so easy to get a programming job? Most employers want either work history or formal education. Even if you teach yourself programming, finding a better paying job might not be any easier.