You should come and live in Kefalonia for a while, you'd soon get used to it. Most people here have lightning protectors for their phones. Those who don't tend to get through 2 or 3 phones a year. I have watched lightning come through the air events in my (metal) shuttersand strike my printer (which was frazzled). A friend of mine has been "lit up" 3 times by lightning. On one occasion, her hair stayed on end for two hours afterwards. And yet... I don't know of anyone who has been seriously injured by it!
By the way, our dog is so terrified of thunder that in the last storm she managed to break our bedroom door latch (ripped it right out of the wall - plaster and all) in an attempt to be comforted.