Unfortunately (but only in this one respect) most of my camping is done with fairly large groups about. At least one ........ will always have 19 double-mantle, superpressurized, gasoline/propane/acetylene etc. lanterns - excuse me - LANTERNS - that he will insist on burning 24 hours a day, making the likelihood of "darkness" something to reminisce about while you sit around the 30 foot high flames of the campfire built by the OTHER .........

But a single lantern 40 or 50 feet (or more) away from your tent does draw the flying bugs away from the tent flap, making it a little easier to slip in and out with only small platoons of the critters sneaking in.

If you take reasonable care with the hanging (safer than sitting) of the lantern, you can safely leave it burning when you bed down. The "Coleman" lanterns universally used in my area simply run out of fuel and fade out.

Technical notes:
The flame temperature of a gasoline fueled lantern attracts the bugs better than a propane one.
A gasoline lantern with a "bug proof" glass (usually yellow) is less satisfactory for this use, but is still almost as good a bug-magnet as a propane one with the clear glass.

Letting a gasoline lantern run out of fuel is hard on the "generator," but most people don't actually use their lanterns often enough to notice the reduction in gen life.

The propane lantern is considerably less subject to "idiot abuse." It may, or may not, be a little safer, depending on the quality of idiot(s) in your crowd.

John John