As Joel Spolsky says, no one really reads. May be if you sum your status up in least possible words it will reduce the pokes a bit.

Also I sent a college a message while he was on holiday knowingly so that he can see and may reply if he wants to when he comes back.

If you are on holiday (palm emoji) you are free to not pick up any calls and messages, until an unless you job is life critical and requires you to respond immediately at any hour.