I thought folks were getting up in the dark as it is, so I checked, and sunrise was at 7:30am today. Most people who start at 9:00 probably do get a hint of light when they get up, or see light shortly thereafter. This is a good counter argument.

One of the things that influences my opinion is that my time zone is incredibly large. When I went on a trip last month (6 weeks from the shortest day), the sun was setting at 3:30pm! (And I was still a 12 hour drive from the Eastern-most tip of the time zone!)