Skip session refreshing on certain ajax request

I'm trying to check if user is inactive with Ajax request, every 30 seconds:

setTimeout(function(){
    check_if_user_logged_in();
}, 30000);

function check_if_user_logged_in() {
    $.ajax({
        url : '/check_if_user_logged_in',
        type : 'GET',
        dataType : 'json',
        success : function(data){
            // User not logged in
            if(!data.logged_in) {
                // Do something - redirect or show pop up window
            }
        }
    });
    
    // Call this function again every 30 seconds
    setTimeout(function(){
        check_if_user_logged_in();
    }, 30000);
}

A controller method :

public function check_if_user_logged_in(Request $request)
{
    if($request->ajax())
    {
        if(\Auth::check())
        {
            return json_encode(array('logged_in' => true));
        }
        else
        {
            return json_encode(array('logged_in' => false));
        }
    }
}

All this works fine, but each ajax request updates the session, so even if user is inactive, session will never expire. Is there a way to skip session update for only this ajax request? I'm not sure where the session refreshing happens. I found this middleware class - StartSession.php, but I wasn't sure if it's a good practice to mess with the system files. Thanks.