Maybe you’ve seen these folks out and about, sporting golden tans acquired at their borough backyards, their Jersey Shore lawns or more exotic locations.

And maybe you’ve been just a wee bit envious.

If you’re normally winter-white and pasty, there is something about a tan that makes you feel like you’re glowing with good looks and good health.

Okay, so the good health is a stretch. Sunlight damages skin and causes skin cancers.

The recent news that George Hamilton was being treated for skin cancer (not “life threatening,” reported the E! channel) was tragically ironic.

Here was the B-list actor most known for wearing a gorgeous tan now facing the medical music.

Many of us (especially females) grew up in a decade when tanning was the thing to do. You slathered baby oil on your body and plopped yourself on a beach blanket to roast your skin, turning yourself periodically like you might turn a chicken on a spit. For good measure, you surrounded your face with one of those aluminum foil-lined cardboard gizmos.

What were we thinking? Many of us paid for tanning with painful burns.

Today, the nuttiness continues. Young women visit tanning salons before prom, beach and wedding seasons.

On a Cape May beach, a woman we call Leather Lady bakes from morning to evening. She doesn’t read. She doesn’t do crossword puzzles, fly kites or toss horseshoes. She just tans, and since she is well into middle age, her skin has the look of rawhide.

Why do some people do this?

A recent piece by Anahad O’Connor in The New York Times offered some clues.

Tanning, it seems, changes the brain. Scientists have discovered people who frequently use tanning beds experience changes in brain activity during their tanning sessions. These changes mimic the patterns of drug addiction, according to new research.

Yikes. No wonder people persist in the insanity, sometimes even after skin cancers are removed.

Fortunately, more people seem to be learning the advantages of shade and sunscreen. They wear sunscreen with SPF 45. They buy sun umbrellas. They wear clothing treated with sun protection. They avoid the beach mid-day.

It’s funny how trends change.

Years ago, pale skin was a sign of privilege. It meant you didn’t work outside in the sun. Now, especially during a South Jersey winter, paleness is a sign that you couldn’t or wouldn’t spend the big bucks to fly off to Tortola or Cancun.

There is an imperfect solution available, of course. It’s relatively inexpensive and safe. And it’s sold at nearly every drug store.

Buy some bronzer.