I highly recommend reading Programming Erlang by Joe Armstrong first. It's a great read, it's quick, and it will make you a better dev, regardless of language. Once you've read it, then go write Elixir. Elixir's syntax and string handling address the primary complaints about Erlang. And, having read the Erlang book, you'll have a better idea of what is going on under the hood. That will will serve you well if you end up off in the weeds, or need to use an Erlang library for something.
I don't agree with that statement. Standards are there to make development easier via an agreed upon "standard" way of doing things. Code rot has nothing to do with that. Things change all the time. No amount of standards stops change. Your code is rotting the second you're "done" with it, simply because everything else around it is still moving. Just accept that and learn to write code that is easily testable so that you can make your changes as necessary and have some confidence that you haven't broken anything in the process. Trying to write rot-free code is pointless. Trying to write code that is easy to update and repair is a worthwhile goal.