Why are all the apps and processes force closing?

So, I have an Alcatel One Touch Evolve, and tonight it crashed. when I say crash, I mean CRASH. I was on Instagram, and a message pops up saying that my Hangouts app has stopped, so I press OK. A bunch of my other apps started closing so on my screen was about 5 different "Force Close" messages, and this is when I get worried, because it happened to my tablet back in May, and I can't get my tablet to pass the power-on screen. Anyways, a bunch of other things start crashing like 'YouTube', 'Kik', 'Google Play Store' and 'Google Play Services'. After rapidly trying to press OK to all of the messages, some of the processes on my phone start crashing, too, and nothing is helping. I rebooted it, it happened again. I went to the settings and tried to factory reset it, but when I pressed 'Erase Everything!' nothing happened. It goes to the power-on screen after that and stays there, and I have to take out the battery to turn it off. Please help me! I'm really stressed out about this so I can't sleep, and I have finals tomorrow. Thanks!