It requires too much time and effort for individual people to attempt to count the passing of years, even for people who might know how. Even the most devoted individuals would be hard pressed to attempt to count the passing of months, if there were no help from a society. A society makes five dimensional awareness possible. People need a society to give a social structure to and to keep everyone constantly informed of the current count of the recognized cycles of time. Even now it is uncommon for any two people to have watches or clocks that tell the exact same time.
Clocks are usually fast or slow, and each by a different amount.
Without a standard that enables people to synchronize their clocks, society would not have been able to advance to the level that it has. Mankind learned to symbolize his awareness on his body, and particularly on his fingers. As mankind became aware of each of the five dimensions of space-time, he also discovered a relationship among his fingers that could uniquely symbolize each of the five distinctions. It was finger symbolism that enabled mankind to become what he is today. Modern people count using a very abstract system of numbers that is based on an evolved understanding of the pattern that is symbolized by the ten fingers.