Elo in LoL is not a measure of individual skill. This is a common assumption, but one that is deeply flawed. Though there is a correlation between Elo and skill in general, Elo is incapable of accurately predicting a player's proficiency in any given role, champion, or specific skill. Elo is, at best, a measure of ranking and nothing more.
That ranking, however, has value. The community uses it, for better or worse, as a means of evaluating the legitimacy of a given player's opinion. Individual players use it as a means to measure their progress or worth. The value of Elo isn't intrinsic, but emergent from the needs and desires of the playerbase. It is therefore unsurprising that many players obsess over their Elo.
Unfortunately, focusing so thoroughly on Elo is detrimental to actually making progress in ranked play. The entire concept of "true" Elo is toxic to self-improvement; players who believe they are better than their peers will eschew practice and introspection to simply grind out games. That method might work in the short term, but will eventually hit a wall. Long term progress requires all but ignoring Elo to focus on personal improvement.
This is not to say that solo queue is never frustrating, or that there aren't trolls, morons, and ragers ruining the experience. However, worrying about that which you can not control will neither gain you Elo nor improve your play.
While skill is not measured by Elo, increasing your skills is the surest method of improving your ranking. Work on your abilities by observing tournaments, practicing mechanics, asking friends for help, or even taking anger management classes, and a better ranking will follow on its own.
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