Oddly enough when I was 9 I regularly went places without a phone. If I needed to reach my family I’d have to find a pay phone and hope someone was at home to answer.

The general backup plan was to go to the nearest friends’ house.

Yeah the difference is that kids now don't really remember phone numbers (neither do I anymore honestly), and pay phones are basically non-existent

I wish kids could go out like I used to but the world is just different and some of the failsafes I took for granted like payphones don't exist anymore