But I see articles that say quantum computing will ruin encryption and some that say it won't. I don't know what to believe as it isn't my area of expertise.
Quantum Computers, if and when they work in practice, will break some algorithms, halve the 'bit-security' (e.g. 256 -> 128bit) of some algorithms, and leave the other quantum-safe ones untouched.
So encryption will still work in a quantum world. We 'just' have to update the algorithms we use.
Quantum computing could allow an implementation of Shor's algorithm to exist. This algorithm breaks RSA which is the basis of a lot of asymmetric cryptographic implementations such as TLS and SSH. By breaking here we mean that it is trivial to crack. It is unclear right now whether or not an equivalent attack applies to elliptic curve-based algorithms which are gaining in popularity.
As far as symmetric encryption is concerned, the standard right now is AES-128 and AES-256 and might be vulnerable to Grover's algorithm which would effectively half the effective number of bits so AES-128 becomes roughly equivalent to a non-existing AES-64 which would be somewhat trivial to crack. However, data encrypted with AES-256 would simply go down to AES-128 which is still considered "good enough" as of today.
In practice, by the time we have real quantum computers there will be a new standard for both of asymmetric and symmetric encryption so it does not matter as much as one would think.
TLDR: RSA will break, elliptic curves might break, AES will be weakened and the impact on your life will probably be minimal.
Shor's algorithm works fine for the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem (ECDLP)[1]. So it'll break ECC.
There's no indication that it can be used to break several other types of problem that can be used in asymmetric cryptography. These other problems are less efficient and have different trade-offs (some have huge keys, some have huge outputs, some are really slow) and picking appropriate parameters to make them usable while still being secure is a difficult problem. Solving that is the aim of NIST's post-quantum standardization effort.
